F1 Azerbaijan GP: Charles Leclerc acknowledges Baku as a “step forward” but not satisfied with just pole positions
Charles Leclerc acknowledged that Ferrari took a step forward in Baku, but he's not going to be satisfied until the SF-23 can start winning races.
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Charles Leclerc
Charles Leclerc took pole position in both races in Baku: Both the sprint, and the feature race. He could not keep it on either occasion, but he showed that the Ferrari package has potential. That is, at least over one lap. In the races, he was no match for either Red Bull driver. This was the case for him many times last season as well. All of this has resulted in a very poor pole conversation rate – with 19 pole positions, and 5 wins. But rarely has this been his fault.
Last year, he took the pole trophy, mainly through his qualifying heroics. At least in the second half of the season, the F1-75 rarely had the race pace to compete with Max Verstappen, or Red Bull, in general. This year, while he took pole, it turned out the same for him. The SF-23 clearly can’t compete with the Red Bull, especially over a whole race distance. In fact, they’ve even rather struggled against Aston Martin and Mercedes.
His P2 in the sprint, and P3 in the race, is still a significant improvement for Ferrari. Especially so for him, personally, as he had only scored 6 points in three races – and retired twice. But still, he wants to win the championship – he’s still aiming high. When asked after the sprint whether it was possible to do better (there) by Canal+, he said (translated from French): “I think it’s complicated because I arrived exactly at the end, and the performance wasn’t much more.”
Charles Leclerc: Baku sprint confirmed SF-23’s “race performance” weakness
After a few laps behind Sergio Perez, he could no longer keep touch. But he did hold off Max Verstappen – with his chances boosted by the Dutchman having a hole in his left side pod: “So, ‘better’, I don’t know, but in any case we’re going to do everything to try to analyze. We’ll see what we can improve for tomorrow, we know that it’s still a weakness of the car, race performance, and tire degradation, and well that confirmed it a little bit today.”
Still, though, he recognized that the team had made a step forward. But you get no points for pole positions – he wants the SF-23 to improve to a level that it can win races. The Monegasque said: “But hey if we look at where we were two races ago, we were much further away so I think we’ve taken a step forward but we have to do more. I just can’t wait for us to improve the car in the race to win races and not just take poles.”
His fears were realized during Sunday’s race. Soon after getting DRS, Verstappen streamed past him, and then Perez followed suit a few laps later. While he momentarily regained P2 from Verstappen after the safety car period, the Dutchman quickly re-overtook him. By the end of the affair, he had far and away lost touch with the Red Bull duo and was even coming under significant pressure from Fernando Alonso. Still, it was a good result and Ferrari’s first podium of the season.
In case you missed it:
- Azerbaijan GP: Charles Leclerc clarifies misheard “cat” over the team radio in the Baku sprint race
- F1 Azerbaijan GP – WATCH: “Belongs in trash” Fans react as Charles Leclerc refuses to wear sprint pole reward cap
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Aniket Tripathi
(1002 Articles Published)