Charles Leclerc believes Ferrari will soon react to the upgrades brought by Red Bull and McLaren. Speaking to the media, including Sportskeeda, in Azerbaijan after the race, the Monegasque expressed his concern over Ferrari struggling to match the performance gains made by their rivals.
McLaren and Red Bull introduced several upgrades to their cars for the 2026 Azerbaijan GP. Ferrari lacked pace compared to both teams across several parts of the circuit. While the Baku street circuit has historically suited Red Bull, Ferrari were expected to be ahead of their rivals and closer to Mercedes based on their form throughout the year. Leclerc finished fourth, while his teammate Lewis Hamilton finished sixth.
According to Leclerc, the Baku street circuit did not suit Ferrari’s car. He also believes their rivals made a step forward in performance with the upgrades they introduced. The Monegasque felt Ferrari needed to respond soon to avoid falling further behind later in the season. Without giving a specific timeline, Leclerc claimed that the Maranello team has chassis upgrades in the pipeline for the upcoming races.
Asked by Sportskeeda if there were any upgrades in the pipeline to respond to Red Bull and McLaren’s improved performance, Charles Leclerc replied:
“We’ve got a few things coming, whether this is going to be enough to close the gap, not knowing what the others have in store as well, is another matter. But surely we’ve got few things that shall help us do some steps forward.”
Asked if he was surprised at their lack of pace at the Baku Circuit, he said:
“I don’t think this track suits particularly our car. But it’s also true to say that I think McLaren and Red Bull did a step forward with the upgrades they are bringing, and that they have brought recently. They did a step forward that we didn’t do. And we must react because then losing some pace now is going to be, obviously, always very difficult to then take it back. So, yeah, hopefully we can react very soon.”
Charles Leclerc believes Ferrari lacked pace in Azerbaijan
Charles Leclerc believes Ferrari lacked pure pace at the Azerbaijan GP, particularly compared to Red Bull. He felt the team struggled for straight-line speed and overall performance throughout the race. The Monegasque also felt that once he lost a position to Oscar Piastri, who had started behind him, it became difficult to recover.
Red Bull have the benchmark engine on the grid, while their improved chassis paid dividends throughout the Azerbaijan GP weekend. Leclerc started from the second row and was ahead of Piastri, but the Australian overtook him during the race, forcing him to surrender a position. Leclerc eventually finished fourth, 14 seconds behind race winner George Russell.
Asked about his race and if there was more performance on the table, Charles Leclerc said:
“I mean, okay. It was a bit of a boring race for us. Unfortunately, we had a bad start, which was probably the only thing we could have done much better today. We lost the position to Oscar, which is difficult to lose the position here, but then after that, we just had no pace compared to Red Bull. It was very difficult to defend because in the straight line, we are too slow. The raw pace, we are just struggling with raw pace at the moment.”
Charles Leclerc is currently fifth in the drivers’ championship with 179 points. He is 20 points behind his teammate Lewis Hamilton, who is third. Ferrari are second in the constructors’ championship and are facing stiff competition from both Red Bull and McLaren in the final few races. They have 358 points, 52 points behind championship leaders Mercedes and 128 points ahead of Red Bull Racing.
Edited by Charanjot Singh Kohli
