Ferrari suffer ’embarrassing’ mishap as Leclerc hits stray object in pits

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The Hungarian Grand Prix weekend began in positive fashion for Ferrari as they topped both of Friday’s practice sessions.

Carlos Sainz led the way in free practice one while Charles Leclerc set the pace in FP2. It is a vital weekend for the Italian squad, who tossed away more valuable points last weekend as Leclerc crashed out of the French Grand Prix while leading, gifting Max Verstappen a comfortable victory.

Meanwhile, Sainz had to settle for fifth after starting at the back of the grid for incurring engine penalties. There is no doubt Ferrari have built a rapid car, but unreliability, driver errors and strategy blunders have undermined their championship challenge and given Verstappen a huge 63-point lead in the drivers’ standings.

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And even as they set the pace in practice at the Hungaroring, there was still an embarrassing moment for the Scuderia. Leclerc, having already set his fastest time, was heading out of the garage towards the end of the session, only to run into a jack stand which had been left in his way.

The shambolic moment prompted mechanics to rush in and try and remove the piece of equipment from underneath Leclerc’s front wing. Sky Sports F1’s pit-lane reporter Ted Kravitz explained the chain of events.

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“That’s a little bit embarrassing,” he said. “It’s partly the mechanics’ fault, partly Charles’ fault.

“The McLaren was coming in [to the pits] and the mechanics were a bit distracted by that. And the way Charles was positioned in the garage, he had to turn left a little bit in order to turn right, and he turned left a little too much and ran into the stand where the jack sits.”

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