Charles Leclerc blasts Ferrari after Hungary Grand Prix ‘disaster’ costs him victory

Charles Leclerc was left furious with Ferrari after yet another strategy error cost the Monegasque victory at the Hungarian Grand Prix.

After starting third on the grid behind teammate Mercedes’ George Russell and teammate Carlos Sainz Jr., Leclerc showed great pace in the first-half of the race, and after the first round of pit-stops was able to take the lead on lap 31 of 70.

The race was far from done however, with both Ferraris, Mercedes, and Red Bulls all in contention for the victory, but with Leclerc looking comfortable out front, it seemed like a much-needed win was on the cards.

However, for inexplicable reasons, Ferrari decided to pit Leclerc early and put the 24-year-old on the underperforming hard tyres, rather than extend his stint and switch him to the quick soft tyres.

It was a decision that massively back-fired, with Leclerc unable to get any grip out of the tyres, labelling them ‘shit’ on the team radio, before eventually making another stop for the softs.

It was to no avail though, as he finished sixth with Max Verstappen going onto win the race and extend his lead in the championship to 80 points.

Speaking after the race, Leclerc told Sky Sports: ‘I’m very, very disappointed obviously. The pace was really good on the medium tyres, the second stint also [on mediums] everything was under control and then we decided to stop on the hards.

‘I don’t exactly know what are the reasons behind this decision yet, but we’ll speak with the team for me to understand, but clearly it wasn’t the right decision. And I made it clear that I felt good on the medium, so I don’t exactly know what happened.

‘Honestly, the pace on my side, I was pretty happy, the only thing is that everybody will remember the last part of the race