A recent snapshot of form since the Monaco Grand Prix – which ultimately perhaps will come to be viewed as the turning point of the season – makes bad reading for Ferrari.
In the four races since its 1-2 on the streets of Monaco Carlo, the team has delivered 79 points – which is just two more than Red Bull has managed despite its reliability dramas. But more worrying is that in that period Mercedes has amassed 151 points.
What is hard to evaluate at the moment is what the real reasons are for why Mercedes has surged so much.
Have we just had a run of tracks – like Canada, Baku, Austria and Silverstone – that favour the more powerful and longer wheelbase Mercedes, where the shorter Ferrari SF70H cannot excel?
Have the last four races shown us the proof that the Mercedes W08 was always the quickest car but early season potential was hidden by its 'Diva' characteristics? And only after its Monaco woes did it work out how best to unlock it all?
Or have mid-season rules clarifications – a clampdown on oil burn from Baku and a requirement for Ferrari to strengthen its floor from Austria – hurt the Maranello team in particular?
After all, considering there were claims earlier this year that Ferrari's engine could now be more powerful than the Mercedes, it is noticeable that the situation, especially in Q3, has turned around so much since the oil burn ruling…
Picking out one of these three factors as the definite most important is a hard task right now, but Hungary should give us plenty of evidence about just where things are.
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