Charles Leclerc comfortably ahead of Lewis Hamilton: Here’s what Ferrari has changed

There was great joy and great frustration in the Ferrari camp following qualifying in Baku: Charles Leclerc secured second place on the grid and was, naturally, very pleased with his position, though somewhat alarmed by the large gap to George Russell (Mercedes) on pole. Lewis Hamilton, on the other hand, was noticeably disappointed with sixth place. The Ferrari had improved compared to the previous day – but not both drivers benefited equally from it.

Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur said after qualifying: “I’m very pleased with the work the team put in between yesterday’s practice sessions and qualifying. On Thursday, we were still struggling quite a bit.”

Ferrari with set-up changes

And what exactly did the Scuderia change? Vasseur: “We made some significant changes to the set-up and our approach, and these paid off today.”

One driver, however, was unbeatable – and by a long way. George Russell (Mercedes) produced a fabulous lap. His pole time: 1:42.526 mins. Charles Leclerc also put in a really good lap, but was a good eight-tenths of a second – almost a full second – behind the Briton. Wow!

Vasseur: “George was very strong right from the first lap in the first free practice session, but Charles did a good job and got the car onto the front row of the grid.”

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On the other side of the Ferrari garage, however, it was more shadow than light: Hamilton starts from 6th place, which puts him even behind Lando Norris, who made a mistake on his final attempt.

What Hamilton lacked for a top lap

Vasseur: “It was difficult for Lewis to get a slipstream, as the different race strategies made it tricky to coordinate with the other cars. He also clipped the wall on his first lap in Q3, which hampered the attempt, but he recovered well and secured sixth place, even though he had no slipstream on his final lap.”

And what does Vasseur expect from the Grand Prix, which gets underway tomorrow, Saturday, at 1 pm? The Frenchman said: “Tomorrow we expect very low tyre wear, which could make the starting position particularly important. We’re in a position to score good points with both cars, even though Baku is always unpredictable. We’ll focus on ourselves, race as well as we can and see what opportunities arise.”