Explained: Ferrari fight back in development wars at F1 Hungarian GP

Charles Leclerc has offered his insight into the modified floor that Ferrari have brought to the F1 Hungarian Grand Prix.

A major upgrade package in Spain last month did not have the desired effect - although Ferrari delivered more downforce, their new floor also created a bouncing problem.

At Silverstone the latest version of the floor was ditched in favour of the older parts.

But Ferrari arrive at the Hungaroring set to persevere with the new version of the floor, with modifications they hope will tackle the troublesome bouncing.

“We've been doing our homework pretty well,” Leclerc said in Hungary, where Crash.net are in the paddock.

“By going in extreme ways in the last few races on my side with the setup, I think we've learned many things. And with the week off in between the races we could take conclusions and make our choice for this weekend.”

Leclerc added: “I think it's not the track where the bouncing is the most visible.

“However, we've got metrics and again, with the last three, four races, we've got things that could tell us whether we are on the right path or not. So I think it will be enough to see that.

“However, in Spa, it will be even more of a test for us. But I'm very confident that what we've learned in the last three, four races will be better for going in the future, whether we're here or on another track.

“We will [make] a step from now on.”

Leclerc was asked whether Ferrari might plan to use different floors at different circuits.

But he said: “No, I don't imagine that for now. It's definitely not one of our targets to have different floors on different kinds of tracks.

“However, the new part is mostly for the bouncing. It's not for the peakiness.

“The peakiness has never been a problem. Obviously you have more peakiness when you are on bouncing because it's just jumping everywhere, but the problem is not the peakiness, it's just the bouncing.”

Ferrari are not the first F1 team to bring a floor upgrade this season.

Mercedes brought their new floor to Miami, and Red Bull introduced their own a fortnight ago at Silverstone.

Leclerc was asked if floor upgrades have an upper limit, preventing major gains.

“Probably the engineers know much more than I do, but for sure there is room for improvement,” he said. 
“The floor is so powerful on those cars that it's also where you can gain the most.

“And now today, the room of improvement is always smaller because it's been quite a few years that we've had the same regulations.

“It's still an area we focus on as a team. But the details in it can make such a big difference.

“And we've seen it with a Barcelona package, which induced quite a bit more bouncing with very little changes.

“With a small change, you can induce bouncing and it can have a huge consequence, but the gains are also there in case you make it right. We cannot be safe in that area and we need to push the development in those areas.”

'Pay the price with results, but gain knowledge'

Leclerc is third in the F1 championship, 105 points behind leader Max Verstappen, heading into Hungary this weekend.

His season so far has peaked by winning his home race in Monaco for the first time.

Leclerc said: “I think our rate of improvement until Monaco was really good.

“As I've said many times before that, we were probably the team that have made most progress back from Monza last year to Monaco this year. It was a really good rate of improvement.

“Then we went to Montreal where we had some issues with the power unit in the race which obviously cost us a good result.

“Then after I think the turning point was from Barcelona onwards where we obviously had an upgrade that introduced quite a bit more bouncing.

“And on my side especially, from that moment on, I've been quite extreme in the change of set-up in order to try and find a way around those issues, which you pay the price with the results.

“However, you gain a lot of knowledge about those issues and I think it will help us bounce back from this weekend onwards.

“For us it's obviously very important to lose as [few] races as possible to understand those issues, but I think we now we understandd those issues better.

“I'm confident that it will be better from this race onward in order to maximise the points here and in Spa as well, and obviously for the rest of the season.”