Charles Leclerc (Ferrari/4th) has concerns in Baku: “We’re lacking pace”

The 28-year-old Monegasque Charles Leclerc had already sensed as much a day before the first practice session: “Mercedes has always been the benchmark; that hasn’t changed. What has changed, however, is the tremendous progress made by McLaren. As for Ferrari – it’s up to us to do a better job. We’ve struggled over the past few Grand Prix weekends for various reasons, and that has to change.”

“Our starting position isn’t great, because when it comes to the car’s performance, we’ve struggled more in qualifying than in the race this year. To have any chance of winning in Baku, we need to be right up the front of the grid, and that won’t be easy for reasons we’re all aware of.”

And now this: Ferrari in 3rd (Leclerc) and 4th (Hamilton) in the first practice session and in 4th (Leclerc) and 5th (Hamilton) in the second.

The times don’t lie: Mercedes is in a league of its own, as is Max Verstappen in his Red Bull Racing car, and it’s only because McLaren is currently experiencing an unusual dip in form that the world’s most famous Scuderia is looking reasonably decent.

Leclerc warns in the paddock at the Baku City Circuit: “We’re lacking pace; we’ve got a lot of work ahead of us if we want to do better on Saturday.”

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“We’re now ploughing through the data and hope to pinpoint the issue more precisely in qualifying.”