The hopes of a comeback for the SF-25 were hampered by traffic and the difficulty of overtaking Honda-powered cars along Baku’s long city straights. Although Leclerc showed early promise with an overtaking move on Lando Norris at the start, he ultimately found himself stuck in the midfield, finishing behind even Lewis Hamilton, who maintained his P8 position.
Leclerc reflects on his race
Leclerc attributed his lackluster performance to the qualifying error: “I think it would be wrong to judge the potential of the car today. We started from a position where we shouldn’t have been, and that is my responsibility,” he told Sky Sport F1. “These things happen. It’s been a season where I’ve done a good job, extracting almost always the maximum from the car. This weekend, honestly, I didn’t because of yesterday’s mistake. Starting from P10, overtaking was impossible.”
He continued: “We struggled a lot in the first stint, where I think we could have gained some positions. We had an issue with the power unit, which later disappeared, and for many laps I had to focus mainly on the mirrors. After that, for reasons we still don’t fully understand, the power unit started working again, but it wasn’t enough to allow me to overtake. The pace wasn’t great, but unfortunately qualifying counts for a lot, and it didn’t go well.”
Looking ahead, Leclerc confirmed that winning races for the remainder of the season will be difficult: “It will be very challenging. Of course, if surprises happen, I would be very happy to achieve it,” he concluded, acknowledging the uphill battle that lies ahead for the Ferrari team.
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