Ferrari’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix was heavily influenced by the opening stint, when Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton struggled to extract performance from the Soft tyres before the C5 compound eventually came into its operating window. Around lap 10, the two Ferrari drivers were running roughly one second per lap slower than George Russell, only for their pace to improve substantially over the following four or five laps.
That early loss proved important on an afternoon shaped as much by incidents and neutralisations as by direct racing. Red Bull showed strong pace, with Max Verstappen benefiting from a new engine fitted after his previous problems, while the team also had a fresh power-unit element available in the other car. Ferrari, meanwhile, appeared to be only the fourth-quickest team before events elsewhere in the race helped improve its final points return.
Ferrari loses time before the Soft tyres switch on
Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton both started the race on the Soft compound, but the first part of the stint did not deliver the expected performance. The most likely problem was tyre temperature, with Hamilton indicating that the tyres had effectively fallen out of their working window.
That interpretation fits the lap-time pattern. By around lap 10, Ferrari was approximately one second per lap slower than race leader George Russell. The deficit then began to shrink, and after another four or five laps the C5 tyres came alive, allowing the SF-26s to settle into lap times much closer to the front-running pace.
The changing behaviour of the car during that opening phase was especially important because Ferrari had already spent much of the weekend trying to balance its strengths and weaknesses around Baku. Earlier Ferrari practice analysis showed progress in deployment and setup, but the Grand Prix introduced another challenge through tyre preparation and temperature control.
Red Bull pace and race incidents reshape the order
Max Verstappen made rapid progress despite starting eighth, moving past both McLaren and Ferrari before closing on George Russell. The Red Bull driver’s pace was one of the clearest features of the race, although the final result was also affected by the broader sequence of incidents and Safety Car periods.
Before the neutralisations and retirements changed the picture, Ferrari could reasonably be viewed as the fourth force on outright pace. The Scuderia then benefited from Lando Norris retiring and Oscar Piastri making a mistake, allowing it to collect additional Constructors’ Championship points despite not having the speed to challenge the leaders consistently.
The underlying performance deficit was consistent with the wider technical picture seen in Azerbaijan, where Ferrari’s telemetry revealed an uneven performance profile between different sections of the circuit.
George Russell survives late pressure from Max Verstappen
George Russell ultimately secured an important victory, but the closing stages were far more difficult than the result initially appeared likely to be. Alex Albon’s crash triggered a Safety Car and compressed the field, transforming what had looked like a controlled race into a tense final sprint.
Russell eventually beat Max Verstappen by only 0.196 seconds, underlining how much pressure the Mercedes driver faced over the final 10 laps.
Kimi Antonelli also produced a strong recovery. Starting 16th, the Mercedes driver worked his way back to fifth despite being delayed by DRS trains during the early part of the race. His starting position, which followed his mistake in qualifying, limited what was realistically possible, while the incidents involving Oscar Piastri, the Alpine drivers and Lando Norris helped him recover additional points.
Starting compound becomes the key strategy decision
There was relatively little strategic complexity once the race settled down. The most important choice was the compound selected for the start, and in this respect Pirelli’s pre-race expectation proved accurate.
The Soft tyre turned out to be extremely consistent and at least as competitive as the Medium. Drivers who started on the C5 were able to cover more than half the race distance without suffering the kind of degradation that might normally be expected from the softest available compound.
Without the Safety Car, several drivers may have extended their opening stints even further. Teams were reluctant to stop because of the high probability of a neutralisation, so the general approach was to keep the first set alive for as long as possible and wait for the race to come to them.
Once the stops finally arrived, the strategy pattern was straightforward. Drivers who began on the Soft moved to the Medium, while those starting on the Medium generally completed the race on the Soft.
Pirelli confirms low degradation on C4 and C5
Pirelli motorsport director Dario Marrafuschi explained after the race that tyre behaviour broadly matched the company’s expectations. The grid had been divided almost evenly between the Soft and Medium compounds at the start, and both proved effective throughout the Grand Prix.
Marrafuschi highlighted the extremely low degradation seen on the C4 and C5 tyres, with limited wear and no significant graining. That allowed drivers to maintain a high level of performance for long sections of the race rather than having to manage tyre life aggressively.
The Soft ultimately offered an advantage in grip and driver confidence, particularly around a demanding circuit such as Baku. According to Pirelli’s assessment, the reversed strategies used by the two Red Bull cars offered a clear comparison, with the driver on the Soft compound performing better than the team-mate using the alternative strategy.
Front-axle temperature after restarts was one of the few areas requiring particular attention. Following the neutralisations, drivers needed to bring the front tyres back into the correct window before they could push fully again.
Hard tyre never becomes necessary
The Hard compound never featured in the race because the Soft and Medium delivered enough consistency and performance to make a more conservative option unnecessary. That was an important outcome given the pre-race uncertainty over how far the softer tyres could realistically be extended.
The Azerbaijan Grand Prix therefore became a clear demonstration of how misleading initial expectations can be when degradation is exceptionally low. The Soft was not simply a qualifying-style tyre capable of short bursts of performance; it became one of the strongest race compounds of the afternoon.
For Ferrari, however, the problem was extracting that performance soon enough. Once the C5 tyres were working, Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton could match the pace at the front far more closely. The time lost before reaching that point was much harder to recover, particularly on a race day where track position and Safety Car timing dictated so much of the final order.
The tyre behaviour adds another layer to Ferrari’s Azerbaijan performance, alongside the questions raised by the team’s Baku setup direction. The Scuderia’s weekend was not defined by one weakness alone, but the first stint demonstrated just how costly it can be when tyre preparation is not immediately under control.
The race retirements were Valtteri Bottas, Franco Colapinto, Pierre Gasly, Lando Norris, Alex Albon, Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll.
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