Ferrari without a podium finish in Baku; Team Principal Vasseur: “Only on the defensive”

The loyal Tifosi are slowly starting to worry: the last time they saw a driver in a red racing suit on the podium was at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium, more than two months ago, when Charles Leclerc finished second behind Kimi Antonelli. Lewis Hamilton’s last podium finish in a Grand Prix dates back to P3 at Silverstone.

Admittedly, Baku specialist Leclerc was able to start the World Championship race on the Caspian Sea from P2 behind George Russell, but the opening laps showed that others were stronger on the day – the Monegasque driver quickly dropped back from P2 to P5.

Had McLaren not suffered a complete collapse (Norris out after a collision, a serious mistake by Piastri, resulting in only P14 instead of a podium finish), we would have to be harsh in our assessment: in the race at Baku, Ferrari was only the fourth-strongest team behind Mercedes, Red Bull Racing and McLaren.

Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur’s expression speaks volumes after Leclerc’s P4 and Hamilton’s P6: the Frenchman, too, had expected more.

Vasseur sums it up: “We knew even before travelling to Baku that this would be a tough job – because of our shortcomings on the engine front.”

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“We started in second place and had hoped for more. In terms of a single fast lap, our performance wasn’t bad, and we even held our own against the Red Bull Racing cars. But right from the start of the race, we were losing a place per lap, and in the end – even though our pace was still quite decent – we couldn’t overtake but had to defend our position; we were purely on the defensive and had to fight hard. It was a difficult weekend.”

“In the next two races, the engine will carry a different weight, and that will mean better opportunities for us. In Malaysia, speed on the straights will be far less important than it is here in Baku. But now we need to work out what we could have done better this weekend, because I think we could have performed better.”

“Nevertheless, we’ve still scored more points than McLaren in the battle for second place in the Constructors’ Championship. That’s not bad, even if our aim is to win the races and the World Championship.”