Charles Leclerc calls on Ferrari to bring upgrades after Azerbaijan Grand Prix deficit

By Vancouver Television Sports Desk

Charles Leclerc left the Azerbaijan Grand Prix concerned about Ferrari’s competitiveness and urged the team to introduce upgrades to reduce the gap to front-running rivals. After a frustrating weekend in Baku, the Monegasque driver said Ferrari need to respond to the pace difference that has persisted across “a few races now,” rather than relying on incremental progress without further development.

Leclerc qualified with a lap still “eight tenths adrift” of George Russell’s pole position, but secured a front-row starting position. Ferrari elected to start him on soft tyres with the intention of establishing an early lead, but the plan unraveled during the first stint when Leclerc lost ground to Oscar Piastri and both Red Bull drivers. As the race unfolded, he was unable to match their tempo and ultimately settled for fourth place, with P4 confirmed after Piastri dropped out of the points late on.

Reflecting on the result, Leclerc said the strength he saw from the lead group was not limited to one team. “They were very strong,” he said. He added that McLaren were strong as well, while Red Bull appeared particularly quick in Baku, which he linked to their “very strong power unit.” Leclerc also said the performance gap to the front was not a new phenomenon, describing it as a track position that Ferrari has been “losing a little bit of track to” over multiple races.

Turning to development priorities, Leclerc said Ferrari chose not to introduce upgrades at Baku alongside Mercedes. In contrast, McLaren and Red Bull made changes to their cars for the street circuit, and Leclerc questioned whether Ferrari can deliver a large enough step forward to challenge for second in the Constructors’ Championship. “We’ve got things in the pipeline, but I don't know what the others have in the pipeline,” he said. He added, “We are going to improve the car — whether it's going to be enough to outrace them in the development programme… I don't know what they have in store.”

Lewis Hamilton’s race mirrored Ferrari’s difficulty in Baku. Starting from P6, Hamilton did not gain meaningful positions during the race and finished without advancing from his starting fight for track position. The main moment came when he made a hard-fought overtake on Lando Norris, but he was later passed by Kimi Antonelli, leaving Hamilton with limited opportunities to challenge the cars ahead.

When asked whether he was surprised not to take the fight to the runners in front, Hamilton pointed to tyre behaviour across the entire weekend rather than a tactical inability. “Not really,” he said, explaining that he was “just surprised all weekend” because he could not get the tyres working consistently. He described grip arriving in cycles—“switching on, switching off, switching on, switching off”—and said Ferrari was running “seconds a lap slower than the cars right at the front,” which he said left “nothing I could do.” Hamilton concluded that tyre performance can vary from track to track, suggesting the Baku conditions were a particular problem for Ferrari after earlier weekends where they were “okay.”