That said, Charles Leclerc walked away from the Azerbaijan Grand Prix with a stark warning for his team. The Ferrari driver admitted they were quite far off the pace of their main competitors, leaving him to urge the Scuderia to bring upgrades as soon as possible to close the gap.
Things had started with some promise on Saturday when his qualifying effort put him on the front row. That lap was eight tenths adrift of George Russell’s pole position time, and the team rolled the dice by putting him on soft tyres to chase an early lead. Unfortunately, that strategy did not pay off when the lights went out.
Over the opening stint, the machine simply lacked the speed to fight back. Leclerc lost ground to Oscar Piastri and both Red Bull drivers, ultimately crossing the finish line to settle for P4 after the Aussie dropped out of the points late in the race. He pointed out afterward that Red Bull and Mercedes are pulling away, noting that it has been quite a few races now that they are losing ground to their rivals.
While McLaren and Red Bull brought changes to their cars for the street circuit, Ferrari opted not to introduce any updates in Baku. That stagnation left Leclerc questioning whether their upcoming development programme will be enough to outrace the competition and hold onto second place in the constructors' championship. They have things in the pipeline, but what the others have stored away remains a mystery.
Meanwhile, his teammate Lewis Hamilton endured an equally lonely afternoon down in P6. Hamilton failed to make any headway from his starting spot, with a hard-fought overtake on Lando Norris serving as his main highlight before Kimi Antonelli later passed him.
The tyre situation proved to be an absolute disaster for Hamilton all weekend long. He admitted he was not even surprised by the lack of a fight, explaining that the rubber kept switching on and off throughout the entire race. Grip would appear for a second and then vanish entirely, leaving them seconds a lap slower than the frontrunners with zero options to fight back.
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