Charles Leclerc (Ferrari/4th) warns: “Others are stepping up their game; we must respond”

Another race without a podium finish for Ferrari; Baku specialist Charles Leclerc could manage no better than fourth place and, at the end of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, had to be glad he wasn’t overtaken by the closing Kimi Antonelli.

Leclerc said of his race on the Baku City Circuit: “That was a rather dull race for us. Unfortunately, we had a poor start, and that’s the only thing we could have done significantly better. Today we lost a position to Oscar. But from that moment on, we simply didn’t have the pace.”

“It was very difficult to defend against the Red Bull Racing cars because we’re too slow on the straights. At the moment, we’re simply struggling with pure speed.”

“I don’t think this circuit suits our car particularly well. In my opinion, McLaren and Red Bull Racing have taken a step forward with their upgrades. They’ve made progress that we haven’t managed to achieve.”

“We need to respond, because if we lose pace now, it’ll be very difficult to make it up later. I hope we can respond very soon.”

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“We’ve got a few new developments up our sleeve. Whether these will be enough to close the gap, without knowing what the others have in store, is another matter. But we certainly have a few new developments that should help us make progress.”