Ferrari’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix extended its run without a podium to five consecutive races, continuing the negative sequence that began in Hungary. The difficult Baku weekend has intensified scrutiny around almost every area of the team, from the power unit and SF-26 performance to management and the growing debate surrounding Fred Vasseur.
The situation around Maranello has become increasingly complicated. Questions over Fred Vasseur’s role and influence have continued to circulate, while Christian Horner’s willingness to put himself forward has only added to the discussion. Ferrari’s recent difficulties have made dissatisfaction around the team principal understandable, particularly because he was originally brought in to transform the organisation and was granted greater authority than his predecessors.
Despite that mandate, Ferrari has still been unable to achieve the success expected of it, even after a regulation change that initially appeared to offer an opportunity. The team’s recent competitive decline has consequently placed both its technical direction and leadership under pressure. The wider question of where the SF-26 currently stands against its rivals was also highlighted by what Baku exposed about Ferrari’s current performance level.
Carlo Vanzini delivers severe Ferrari verdict after Baku
The Azerbaijan Grand Prix became something of a perfect storm for Ferrari. Criticism intensified away from the circuit, the car failed to perform as expected and the drivers’ comments added further uncertainty around the team. For a brief moment, Ferrari appeared to have lost control of the wider narrative surrounding its season.
Speaking on Sky Sport, Carlo Vanzini offered an especially severe assessment of Ferrari’s Baku performance and suggested that the problems could no longer be attributed to only one area of the car.
“Charles Leclerc had the new engine, but nothing changed, while Lewis Hamilton was never really in contention. They need a wake-up call at Maranello because it is almost time to start thinking about 2027. In Baku, the car lacked power and engine performance, and now not even the chassis can be saved anymore. In our meetings, we had even considered the possibility that Charles Leclerc was running the ADUO 1 version,” Carlo Vanzini said.
Ferrari problems extend beyond the power unit
The comments underline how broad the criticism surrounding Ferrari has become. Power-unit performance had already been identified as one of the team’s concerns, but Carlo Vanzini’s assessment went further by questioning the chassis as well. The Baku weekend therefore reinforced the impression that Ferrari’s problems cannot necessarily be reduced to a single technical weakness.
The power-unit discussion has also been closely connected to the confusion surrounding Charles Leclerc’s specification, one of several communication issues that have added to the pressure around Maranello. The wider situation is explored in our analysis of Ferrari’s communication problems, Christian Horner rumours and the Charles Leclerc ADUO episode.
Attention is inevitably beginning to move towards the longer-term future. With Ferrari’s current run of results falling short of expectations and criticism increasing around both the technical package and management structure, the importance of preparing effectively for 2027 is becoming more prominent. Fred Vasseur’s position and the team’s plans for the next season have also been addressed as Ferrari looks towards a crucial 2027 campaign.
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