Charles Leclerc admitted Ferrari no longer had the best chassis in Formula 1 and that he was running the team’s upgraded engine at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, its fifth straight race without a podium finish.
Leclerc qualified second but finished fourth in Baku, with teammate Lewis Hamilton in sixth. The team ultimately was unable to match the pace of Mercedes and Red Bull in the race.
Ferrari started 2026 as Mercedes’ strongest rival and were convinced they had the strongest chassis, but that the overall package was being held back by a lack of engine power -- a view shared at the time by its rivals.
Ferrari hoped to address that through the extra leeway they were given through F1’s new Additional Development and Upgrade Opportunities (ADUO), a mechanism baked into the regulations to help engine manufacturers cut the gap to the benchmark internal combustion engine.
There has been much excitement -- especially in the Italian media -- at the prospect of Ferrari being able to fight at the front once it introduced its upgraded engine.
Leclerc first ran the upgraded engine in Monza but crashed out of the race, and as a result, had to revert to the previous engine for the Spanish Grand Prix a week later.
Leclerc appeared to confirm the team had repaired his engine from Monza and that he was running it in the disappointing Baku race.
“I had the latest version,” Leclerc told the Italian branch of Sky Sports when asked which engine he had in the car, glancing at Ferrari’s press officer next to him.
He then laughed and added: “I don’t know if I’m saying something I shouldn’t, but I thought you knew that.”
The comment might be telling in the context of Ferrari’s current situation.
Baku’s long main straight puts a premium on power-unit performance and energy deployment. Red Bull -- the team controversially deemed to have the benchmark internal combustion engine (ICE) under ADUO -- take the fight to Mercedes while Ferrari languished behind.
Leclerc went on to suggest the dynamic from earlier in the season has changed now too, and that the red cars may no longer be the strongest aerodynamic package on the grid anymore either.
Both Leclerc and Hamilton won a race apiece earlier in the year, with Ferrari appearing to be Mercedes’ closest rival early in the year, but when asked by Sky Sports if another win was possible in the final races of the year, Leclerc seemed unconvinced.
“I think so, but we must not lie to ourselves,” Leclerc replied. “I think McLaren and Red Bull have done big steps forwards. I think Mercedes is also doing steps forward in terms of corner speed, and so I don’t think we have the best chassis like we used to have at one point of the season.
“So this is something that we need to work on and come back at a better level at that.”
Despite its long run off the podium, Ferrari is still a distant second in the constructors’ championship -- 160 points behind Mercedes and 72 points ahead of McLaren.
