Following the 2026 F1 Azerbaijan GP, Fred Vasseur reflected on a difficult race for Ferrari as Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton finished P4 and P6 respectively.
In qualifying on Friday, the driver from Monaco finished up in P2, a full 0.8s slower than George Russell. The seven-time World Champion was 1.3s off pole in P6.
Off the line, Oscar Piastri jumped car #16, with the Red Bull duo of Isack Hadjar and Max Verstappen quickly following through in the opening laps. Ferrari’s lack of horsepower left them brutally exposed on the straights. Kimi Antonelli also breezed by late in the race against Lewis Hamilton.
Nonetheless, there was good damage limitation thanks to the downfall of Norris and the Australian in their McLarens. Ferrari ultimately gained 20 points on them in the fight for P2 in the Constructors’ Championship.
Fred Vasseur on the problems faced by Ferrari at the 2026 F1 Azerbaijan GP
As Max Verstappen came through from P8 to P3 quite quickly by overtaking both Ferraris, and with Isack Hadjar passing Charles Leclerc, it was put to Vasseur why they struggled so much on the opening laps of the 2026 F1 Azerbaijan GP.
Once the rocket on the straight Red Bulls came through, Leclerc had decent pace for his machinery on the day. When the first Safety Car appeared, the nine-time race winner was in P5, nearly 7s behind car #81 in P2.
“First, I’m not sure that we can split the race like this.
“I think it’s more when we are in the fight, but with the situation that we have on the engine, many laps we are losing one position per lap, and then we lose the path of the race.
“Honestly, we were surprised to be on the first row, because Baku is the most demanding on the engine, and we were not expecting to do so.
“But we knew even starting from the first row that the opening laps, or in case of restarting after a Safety Car and so on, it would be difficult, and it was.
“But overall, I think that we maximised what we can do in Baku with P4 and P6. For us, we can’t be satisfied with P4 and P6, but in Baku I think it’s the maximum.”
Ferrari’s limitations at the Azerbaijan GP
The Frenchman explained the importance of not overreacting to difficult races. Coming into the weekend, Ferrari knew they would struggle in Azerbaijan as the lack of horsepower compared to Mercedes and Red Bull’s PUs left them on the back foot. The Scuderia did not decide to go on an outrageously low downforce package to compensate for it.
Vasseur expects Malaysia to be tricky as well thanks to the long straights at the beginning and end of the lap, although Singapore should definitely be better for the team.
The Frenchman also outlined it is far easier to make gains on the chassis side compared to the engine, as Aston Martin/Honda and Audi have found out this year.
“The biggest limitation is that when you are in this situation and you want to defend, you go in a kind of negative spiral, perhaps to try to run a bit lower downforce than is optimum, because you need to defend and you are losing lap time, and it’s quite often that this kind of spiral [happens].
“We had a similar case in Monza. In Monza, the pace was decent, that we were 3 and 4 on the grid. The result of the quali was decent, but we are losing one position per straight line on the opening laps.
“Now, the next races […] Malaysia will be so-so. But Singapore, it will probably be a bit less demanding than this one. Let’s try to be back.
“There is also a kind of convergence on the chassis, you can improve much quicker than on the engine. There is a kind of convergence of performance on the chassis that you don’t have on the engine.
Ferrari F1 upgrades are coming
After the race on Saturday, Charles Leclerc was pressing for upgrades as Ferrari has slipped back through the season. McLaren and Red Bull have developed their cars, with the Woking-based team in particular a regular podium/winning contender on pace at the moment.
Following the 2026 F1 Azerbaijan GP, Fred Vasseur confirmed updates to the SF-26 are coming.
“I won’t give you the date, but soon.
“Now, it’s like this, that we are all bringing upgrades at different races. I think McLaren did something this weekend, and Mercedes probably next weekend in Malaysia with Petronas, and we will do it as soon as possible.
“For sure, sometimes you do steps, but it’s not always enough, because sometimes you have to fight also a little bit the car. Long-term [planning] is what you have to do.
“Now, I think everybody is switching to the next year’s programme, because even if it’s into the continuity, we have some changes on the regulations, and we have to anticipate them.”
Chassis advantage has almost or completely gone, Vasseur admits
At the start of 2026 and as far as Hungary, McLaren praised the strength of the Ferrari chassis, believing it was the benchmark on the grid. However, Mercedes also had a very strong one, and combining that with their incredible good PU, Ferrari had no chance to fight them at most tracks. They did manage to win at Barcelona-Catalunya and Silverstone, nonetheless.
With McLaren coming on strong as the year has gone on the chassis side, as well as Red Bull chipping away at things, the podiums have dried up for the Scuderia.
Fred Vasseur admitted after the 2026 F1 Azerbaijan GP that any kind of decent advantage Ferrari had in the chassis department is now gone.
“Yeah, I think the advantage that we had on the chassis is smaller, or not there anymore, I don’t know.
“Because it’s not a chassis and engine, it depends on the speed of the corner, or the compound of the temperature, it’s not just one parameter.
“But I think today, if you consider the difficulty that we are estimating on the engine, we are not sure that there’s a chassis problem.”
