Vettel and Leclerc disagree over Ferrari's Hungary chances

Sebastian Vettel and Charles Leclerc appeared to be at odds over Ferrari's chances of a successful qualifying for the Hungarian Grand Prix if forecast rain does not arrive.

The shorter, slower nature of the Hungaroring is not expected to suit the SF90, which has been mighty in straight lines all year but has shown crucial weakness in the corners.

However, Vettel managed to almost exactly match the time of Max Verstappen in Friday's first practice session, just a tenth of a second down on Lewis Hamilton atop the timesheets.

A drizzly FP2 offered a chance for running in changing conditions, but Vettel is confident whatever the weather.

"I think in both conditions we should be thereabouts; how close, we will see," Vettel said. "I think Mercedes look very strong out of the box straight away."

The German's view is in slight contrast to his team-mate, with Leclerc seeking assistance from the skies on qualifying day.

He said: "I think in the wet, I was in better shape. Overall we are struggling a little bit with the downforce level that we have.

"It's a track where we need a lot of downforce, we knew it would be a difficult track for us, so we need to work and try to improve for tomorrow.

"It will be all about trying to anticipate what will happen on the Sunday," he added. "I think everything will be quite different on Sunday, a lot warmer than it was today, no rain, so yeah, we will see Sunday.

"Obviously it was all about the laps before in the conditions which were changing quite a lot. We'll see tomorrow. Hopefully it will rain."

Related

F1 News & Gossip

Verstappen makes X-rated F1 tantrum admission

• December 30, 2024 20:58

Latest F1 News

F1 winner details 5am return after UNUSUAL post-race celebration

• July 24, 2024 22:57