F1 Hungarian Grand Prix | Pride and spectacle for Scuderia Ferrari in Budapest

From a second row in qualifying to a double podium in the race. Seb second, Kimi third, Scuderia Ferrari probably achieved the maximum on a difficult Sunday. What remains is the curiosity, or perhaps the regret, of imagining what would have happened without a small hesitation in the garage. Or without the rain on Saturday afternoon. But the SF71H remains strong everywhere, and Vettel's overtaking of Bottas is the best moment of the race.

THE RACE FILM. Ultrasoft tires for Kimi who starts from third position; Seb, behind him, rides on the Soft, the only one among the top four: less acceleration at the start but greater durability. The start is regular at the second corner, Seb goes to the outside of Kimi and passes him. Now his job is to control the pace. Raikkonen, on the other hand, got ahead of everyone by entering on lap 15 and switching to the Soft compounds.

Bottas covers the maneuver on the next pass. After twenty laps, Seb begins to accelerate the pace, with the aim of accumulating the necessary gap on Bottas to stay in front of him after the pit stop. In the meantime he reduces the deficit on Hamilton, who goes into the pit lane on lap 26 and uses Soft tires (Option, if you are an engineer).

Sebastian continues to gain on Valtteri, and therefore to stay on track. Kimi is also catching up to his compatriot, after losing some time at the pit stop to clear the brake grip of rubber debris. After 33 laps Raikkonen is already in the DRS zone behind Bottas, but passing here is not easy and there are lapped cars to dodge. Seb also asks for help from the garage to raise the blue flags. Thirty-ninth lap, the Ferrari mechanics come out, but the stop is for Kimi. Another set of yellow tires. Immediately afterwards, as per strategy, it was Seb's turn to mount the Quali, the Ultrasoft purple band tyres. But the stop lasts longer than expected and the SF71H comes back out behind Bottas who had pushed to the maximum. Duel on the track, Seb points at his opponent (while there is a fastest lap for Kimi).

In reality, rather than attacking, now you need to stay not too far in the slipstream to keep the brake temperatures under control. Last twenty laps, the n.5 goes back under before a Virtual safety car for Vandoorne stopped on the track. He recovers, Vettel still has the Ultrasofts in excellent shape, but the Hungaroring, after Monaco, is the worst track for those who want to see overtaking. Behind the two, meanwhile, Kimi was definitely approaching. On another circuit, he would be once enthralling. Lap 65: Sebastian attacks decisively on the outside, crosses the line in turn 2 and moves ahead of Bottas, who in defending himself hits the Ferrari and damages the front wing, giving way to Kimi. The game is overturned, it's late for the biggest target, but not for a good show of pride. And competitiveness.

*Ferrari average