Charles Leclerc had a quiet but good performance at the 2026 F1 Azerbaijan GP as the driver from Monaco finished P4. Ferrari clearly lacked the pace of Red Bull and Mercedes around Baku, with McLaren driver Oscar Piastri also ahead of the 28-year-old and Lewis Hamilton throughout the race.
Starting on the front row following a fine effort in qualifying, the Monegasque driver lost out to Oscar Piastri at the start. From there he was a sitting duck against the very fast Red Bulls, dropping to 5th. Nonetheless, he created a small gap to Lando Norris initially, before extending it. Lewis Hamilton passed his fellow Brit but could not match the pace of his stablemate.
On the Safety Car restarts, he stayed in P5. That was until the Australian in his McLaren had a massive lock-up into turn 1 defending against Isack Hadjar, dropping him to the back of the field. From there, the driver of car #16 maintained P4, finishing just a few tenths ahead of Kimi Antonelli at the flag. Leclerc was 8.2s clear of his teammate too.
Charles Leclerc on Ferrari struggling for pace in 2026 F1 Azerbaijan GP
Along with Mercedes and Red Bull clearly having faster packages in race trim, Oscar Piastri was also 6.5s and three spots ahead of the British GP winner before the first Safety Car appeared.
Speaking in the print media pen, the nine-time race winner conceded that Ferrari simply lacked the raw pace to be a podium contender on Saturday. The lack of horsepower was also brutally exposed on the longest straight on the calendar.
“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’ve lost a position to Oscar which is difficult to lose a position here.
“But then after that we just had no pace. Compared to the Red Bull, it was very difficult to defend because in the straight line we are too slow.
“And yeah the raw pace, we are just struggling with raw pace.”
Asked if he felt he maximised his race and result at the 2026 F1 Azerbaijan GP, Charles Leclerc believed that was the case.
“I think I did, yes.
“I mean, without the mistake of Oscar, I probably would have said that without the bad start maybe Oscar would have been reachable.
“But apart from that, the two Red Bulls were too quick, and obviously George was too strong.”
Ferrari need upgrades to get back in the fight
With many believing Scuderia Ferrari had the best chassis at the start of F1 2026, they have been overtaken in the development race by McLaren, with Lando Norris winning in Hungary and Zandvoort. He was also the fastest in Madrid.
Meanwhile, Red Bull’s Max Verstappen has finished ahead of both Ferraris in four of the last five races, showing the SF-26 has dropped away from being the second best car to Mercedes when you include the Power Units.
Charles Leclerc is fully aware of the overall picture following the 2026 F1 Azerbaijan GP.
“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 growth 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.”
Asked if upgrades are coming in the near future, the Ferrari driver confimed there will be. The question remains as to whether it moves them back into regular podium finishing positions.
“We’ve got a few things coming, whether it’s 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 a few things that should help us do some steps forward.”
