'This is the reason why Leclerc lost so much speed in Hungary'

Following the Hungarian Grand Prix, George Russell sparked widespread speculation about Ferrari’s car performance. Ralf Schumacher has now weighed in with his perspective on the situation.

Charles Leclerc surprised many by securing pole position on Saturday. During the race, the Ferrari driver held strong at the start but then unexpectedly began to lose ground.

George Russell said after the race that he suspects the Italian team had to make some adjustments to the car to avoid disqualification. The team would have increased the tyre pressure and adjusted the engine setting so that the floor would not wear too much.

George Russell and Charles Leclerc in Hungary

Why Leclerc lost so much speed according to Schumacher

Ralf Schumacher responded to the Mercedes driver's theory in the Boxengasse-podcast. "Regarding tire pressure, I find that absurd, as the tire would of course respond much faster."

"If I put a lot of air in it to even notice a height difference, how is that even measurable? That's very difficult. It depends a lot on the dynamics. And then the wheel would overheat after three, four laps. You know that from qualifying. There the tyre pressure is different and even then you aren't higher."

"I think that if you're that fast in the beginning with a lot of fuel on board, the car is even lower. That means you probably destroy the bottom in the first thirty laps. That doesn't seem possible to me."

According to the German, the problem was the tyre that Leclerc had switched to: "I rather think that Ferrari had the problem that they used the hard tires for the first time there.''

''And they also have the new rear suspension. I think something happened that they didn't anticipate", Schumacher concluded.

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