Hungarian GP: Mercedes fear Ferrari are too fast to be beaten
Hamilton fears "easy breeze" for Ferrari from Budapest front row, while Wolff says race about "damage limitation"; but can Mercedes get ahead at the start? Sunday's race live at 1pm on Sky F1
Monday 31 July 2017 11:23, UK
Mercedes are not expecting to defeat Ferrari in Sunday's Hungarian GP with Lewis Hamilton all-but writing off his chances of victory.
For the first time since F1's previous visit to a high-downforce circuit, at the Monaco GP in May, Ferrari outpaced Mercedes in qualifying at the twisty Hungaroring as Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen locked out the front row.
Mercedes will start directly behind on row two but neither Lewis Hamilton, who struggled to fourth, nor team boss Toto Wolff are particularly optimistic about the world champions' prospects of claiming victory in Budapest.
"I think it's going to be an easy breeze for them," predicted Hamilton. "Getting past the Ferraris will be almost impossible unless they have problems."
Vettel storms to Hungarian GP pole
And although Wolff believes the very start of the race could present Mercedes with opportunities to get ahead of the Ferraris, he said: "It's still motor racing, lots of things can happen during the race, and we'll see what end result it will be. But from pure car performance, it's about damage limitation."
Mercedes have won three of the last four races, a run which appeared to give the Silver Arrows the momentum in an undulating and intense title race with Ferrari. The reigning champions are 55 points clear in the Constructors' Championship, while Hamilton has closed to within a point of Sebastian Vettel in the drivers' chase.
But the return to a tight and twisty circuit with a series of slow corners has seen Ferrari re-emerge at the head of the field, with the Italian team replicating their one-two qualifying result from the streets of Monaco. Ferrari turned that lockout into a one-two race finish a day later.
Rather than a sudden loss of form since Silverstone, Wolff believes the turnaround is "track specific" with the Mercedes W08 appearing happier on faster, more open tracks.
"There are three high-downforce tracks that are similar, Monaco, Budapest and Singapore, and we're starting to see a little bit of a pattern," added the Mercedes chief. "The DNA of our car just seems to be running more stable on faster circuits and Ferrari is doing very well on the twisty, slow circuits."
Nonetheless, Mercedes still qualified within three tenths of pole despite a difficult final practice, with Wolff believing the situation is not as concerning as Monaco.
"The positive I take from today is we are much closer to Ferrari on this type of circuit," he added.
The Mercedes chief suspects Bottas and Hamilton's best chances to jump their Ferrari rivals may come in the race's opening seconds.
"There is definitely an opportunity off the start," added Wolff. "If you have good getaway, the straight line is 600m or 700m and there is an overtaking opportunity. Then around Turn One and Turn Two there are opportunities. But from then on it becomes a little bit difficult."
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