Vasseur promises frustrated Leclerc that Ferrari will bring upgrades ‘soon’

Ferrari Team Principal Fred Vasseur has promised that the Maranello-based squad will bring developments to the SF-26 “soon” after Charles Leclerc cited a lack of recent development as a reason behind their poor form in Azerbaijan.

Baku specialist Leclerc qualified second, an outcome that even surprised the team given the straight-line speed deficit that has been apparent all season.

However, race day brought something of a reality check when he slipped down the order to P5 in the opening laps as he was unable to defend.

In the end, a mistake by Oscar Piastri allowed Leclerc to finish P4, having fallen off the lead battle at around a second a lap in the mini sprint that followed the last Safety Car interlude.

With Lewis Hamilton having to settle for P6, it was not a great outcome for a team that have won twice this year – especially at a track where Leclerc often shines.

It wasn’t just about a straight-line performance deficit, as Hamilton cited his struggles to get the tyres into the right temperature window as a major factor behind his disappointing weekend.

“Honestly, we were surprised to be on the first row, because it’s one is the most demanding on the engine, and we were not expecting to do so,” said Vasseur.

“But we knew even starting from the first row that the opening laps, or in case of restarting after a Safety Car and so on, it would be difficult, and it was. But overall, I think that we maximised what we can do in Baku with P4 and P6. For us, we can't be satisfied with P4 and P6, but in Baku I think it’s the maximum.”

Ferrari’s performance on the straights has been an issue all season, and the team have had to make compromises to compensate.

“The biggest limitation is that when you are in this situation and you want to defend, you go in a kind of negative spiral,” said Vasseur. “Perhaps to try to run a bit lower downforce than say optimum, because you need to defend, and you are losing lap time.

“We had a similar case in Monza. There the pace was decent. The quali position was decent, but we were losing one position per straight line in the opening laps.

“The next races are a bit less demanding than this one. Let’s try to be back. And there is also a kind of convergence on the chassis, you can improve much quicker than with the engine. There is a kind of convergence of performance on the chassis.”

Hinting at recent improvements by rivals, he added: “I think the advantage that we had on the chassis is smaller, or not there anymore.”

Regarding Leclerc’s call for much-needed upgrades, Vasseur insisted that the wait won’t be long.

“I won’t give you the date, but soon,” he said. “Now it’s like this that we are all bringing upgrades at different places. I think McLaren did something this weekend, and Merc it will probably be next weekend, with Malaysia and [Kuala Lumpur-based Title and Technical Partner] Petronas.

“We will do it as soon as possible. For sure, sometimes you do steps, but it’s not always paying off, because sometimes you have to fine tune. Now I think everybody is switching to the next year’s programme, because even if it’s into the continuity, we have some changes on the regulations, and we have to anticipate this.”