Mika Hakkinen reflected on the 2022 Hungarian Grand Prix and Ferrari’s strategy decisions claiming this hasn’t been the first time their mid-race decisions have been under question.
The 1998 and 1999 Formula 1 Champion gave his thoughts on Ferrari’s race in Hungary, and believes the summer break is a good opportunity for them to regroup and analyze their mistakes.
In his Unibet column, Hakkinen said: “Charles, Carlos and the Ferrari team management will hopefully use the summer break to discuss how they can take the fight to Red Bull more aggressively, and also defend against an improved Mercedes.
“On Sunday we saw Charles using two sets of medium tyres, then the team move him onto a set of hard tyres which really were the wrong tyre to be on.
“It was hard to understand that decision, and Charles knew it was the wrong way to go,” the Finn pointed out. “When the team finally put him onto a set of soft tyres on lap 54 the race was lost and he was not able to recover any positions.
“This is not the first time we have questioned Ferrari’s mid-race decision making, and it’s an area they will need to work on,” he warned.
Hakkinen claimed F1 is very competitive at the moment, something he took away from Sunday in Budapest, a race the Mercedes’ Goerge Russell started from pole, but was won by Max Verstappen.
Hungary showed how competitive F1 is at the moment
“This was a another race which showed just how competitive Formula 1 is at the moment,” he said.
“Of course Max Verstappen has the quickest, most consistent car, but the big picture on Sunday is that Russell, Leclerc, Sainz and Hamilton led at some point, and the way the cars can follow each other thanks to the ’22 regulations is very positive.
“There was so much happening and, when you consider Max even had a spin, I think 3 or 4 drivers could have won this race,” the former McLaren driver insisted.
A winner of 20 races during his illustrious F1 career, Hakkinen praised Verstappen saying: “Max’s win was very impressive because he had to start 10th and work his way through the traffic, but he did everything he needed to and the team gave him the right strategy to take the win.
“In some ways a victory like this shows just how much confidence Max has in himself and the car,” he added. “Even when they hit problems they don’t panic, just focus on recovering quickly.
“Checo Perez’s good drive into 5th now puts him only 5 points behind Leclerc in the World Championship, so Red Buil are looking to turn this into a 1-2 result if Ferrari does not find a way to respond,” the 53-year-old warned.