Sainz praying for rain with Ferrari left “vulnerable” at F1 Hungarian GP

Ferrari had urged caution over its chances at the Hungaroring ahead of the weekend despite being tipped to be competitive, with the tight and twisty circuit layout expected to play to the strengths of its 2021 F1 car.

Although the team made a positive start with Sainz fourth and teammate Charles Leclerc finishing seventh in opening practice, the pair slipped down to 11th and 12th and were over a second off the pace by the end of FP2.

"Unfortunately, before coming here we knew we had some weaknesses in our package and in our car,” Sainz said. “We knew in certain corners it was not going to be particularly good. We could prove that today.

“I mean in Monaco we would never be P11, P10 in a practice session and today unfortunately as soon as something went in the wrong direction, we found ourselves out of the top 10.

“So it shows we are a lot more vulnerable in this sort of track.”

Sainz hopes that the temperatures will cool as expected for the rest of the weekend and added he would be happy if it rained.

"As with an even hotter track temperature we went a bit backwards,” he explained. “So something there to analyse, something there to look into.

“Hopefully by tomorrow there looks like a risk of rain and a bit of cloud coverage and all of a sudden everything can mix up again.”

Asked if he would welcome rain, Sainz replied: “I think I like it, first of all, and it should help. It should help everyone because the temperatures we were running in today make the Formula 1 cars and tyres very, very on the limit but hopefully a bit more to us, I wish, at least.”

Leclerc, however, was feeling more optimistic about Ferrari’s chances in Hungary.

“We went through the plan, obviously the track changed a little bit but apart from that we are quite happy with where we feel in the car for now,” Leclerc said.

“The performance we will see tomorrow in qualifying but the feeling is quite good for now. We still have some work to do everything at 100% tomorrow but we are on a good road.”

And unlike his teammate, Leclerc is not wishing for rain: “If the temperature can drop just a little without having any rain would be perfect for us.”