Fred Vasseur points out execution as the weak point for Ferrari in Hungary

Ferrari headed into Budapest as favorites and, indeed, were the fastest team on the opening day, but they were usurped by McLaren, with Lando Norris taking pole while Lewis Hamilton was given a three-place grid penalty for impeding Oscar Piastri in Q3 of Qualifying. He was then slapped with a five-second penalty in the Grand Prix for speeding in the pitlane.

In the end, the seven-time Formula 1 Champion finished fifth due to his penalty while teammate Charles Leclerc inherited fourth.

Vasseur reflected on the weekend; he said: "It's difficult to really understand the pace because you learn the fact that first it's not a good Sunday because when you are P1-P2 on Friday, you expect much more than P4-P5.

"And at the top you make too many mistakes today starting with a start, with a penalty, with the fact that Max [Verstappen] overtook us on track, at each time that we are doing a pit stop, we are losing our position for 0.2 or 0.3 seconds. Everything went wrong, but for sure we have to do a much better job in some way."

Pointing out the root of the issues, the Frenchman added: "What we have to improve is that if I draw a conclusion based on today, I would say execution, but execution so far has been a good one for us from the beginning of the season.

"We know that we have to improve on the engine side, and we will do it. The inertia on the engines is much higher than on the chassis. The most important would be to be able to keep the pace into the development," he explained.

Ferrari's development strategy has been in the spotlight recently, with Mercedes boss Toto Wolff pointing out their numerous upgrades compared to his team, something that did not go down well with Vasseur, who, after Hungary, also compared his team's car development plans to McLaren's.

He said: "McLaren did a good job for a while, but they don't have exactly the same philosophy because they are waiting on a big package, and this is the last one.

"For sure, each time that they are doing something, they are making a huge step, but we have a different approach, trying to bring parts every race. And we have to keep this momentum, because there are still races to go; you know, it's a lot.

"And we are going for improvement, and you should see everywhere, and we have to keep this pace," Vasseur concluded. (Reporting by Agnes Carlier)