Just one podium in five races
Disappointment is starting to bite at Ferrari. Over the last five Grands Prix, the Scuderia has managed just one podium, Charles Leclerc’s second place in Belgium. That is a long way off the pace the car has shown in flashes this season.
The picture looks even worse in the drivers’ championship. Lewis Hamilton is now more than 100 points behind Kimi Antonelli after his DNF in Madrid. In the constructors’ standings, Ferrari trails Mercedes by 145 points, and McLaren are closing fast: the leading papaya team has beaten the Scuderia in each of the last four races, cutting the gap to just 52 points.
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Vasseur wants it all to click
Frederic Vasseur is not trying to play down the stakes ahead of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. “Baku is a very specific challenge, where confidence in the car and execution matter a great deal,” warned the French team boss, who keeps stressing the need to “get every part of the weekend right.”
Speaking as a Sky Sports F1 pundit, Nico Rosberg broadly agrees. In the former world champion’s view, the Scuderia has the machinery to run at the sharp end: “They are very close” to the front runners. But the same weakness keeps cropping up month after month: “The Achilles heel is still on the strategy side, the communication.” A competitive car, yes. The follow-through? Still missing.
All eyes on Saturday in Baku
The Azerbaijani street circuit, famous for its long straights and that ever-present wall, will forgive nothing. This is Ferrari’s chance to show that talk from the top can finally turn into results, before the gap to McLaren becomes properly ugly.
The race is scheduled for Saturday 26 September, at 13:00 French time (12:00 in the UK), live on Sky Sports F1.
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