Charles Leclerc began the Azerbaijan Grand PrixTM on the front row dreaming of victory. He ended it wondering how Ferrari had fallen so far behind.
On another chaotic afternoon around the unforgiving streets of Baku, George Russell produced a superb drive to win from pole, somehow keeping Max Verstappen behind him in a breathtaking final charge to the chequered flag.
The margin was just 0.196 seconds.
For Ferrari, however, the story was rather different. Leclerc finished fourth and Lewis Hamilton sixth on an afternoon that exposed a worrying lack of race pace from the SF-26.
From Front Row to Fighting for Fourth
There had been reason for optimism in the Principality.
Leclerc had qualified an impressive second, although the result concealed an ominous warning: Russell’s pole lap had been an extraordinary 0.837 seconds faster. Nevertheless, with Leclerc starting alongside the Mercedes and Ferrari putting him on soft tyres, there was at least the possibility of an aggressive opening attack.
It never materialised.
Russell launched cleanly into the lead, while Oscar Piastri immediately swept past Leclerc into second. Worse followed.
The Red Bulls were flying. Isack Hadjar attacked Leclerc and eventually found his way through for third; Verstappen then dispatched the Monegasque as well. A Ferrari that had looked capable of challenging from the front row was suddenly going backwards in the field.
Hamilton was having problems of his own.
Starting sixth after a frustrating qualifying session in which he complained of being left without a useful tow, the seven-time World Champion lost out to Verstappen almost immediately. Hamilton eventually produced one of Ferrari’s brighter moments by passing Lando Norris, but his race never developed into a genuine challenge to the leaders.
Baku Erupts
Up front, Russell was disappearing.
At one stage the Mercedes driver had opened a lead approaching ten seconds, but in Baku tranquillity rarely lasts.
Alex Albon crashed his Williams at Turn 6, bringing out the Safety Car and wiping away Russell’s advantage.
Then came even greater chaos.
At the restart, Franco Colapinto locked up approaching Turn 1 and collided with his Alpine teammate Pierre Gasly, who in turn impacted Norris. All three were eliminated and the Safety Car appeared again.
Suddenly the race was alive.
Verstappen had worked his way from eighth on the grid to second and now had Russell directly in his sights. Behind them, Piastri appeared destined for the podium until he locked up at Turn 1 after the second restart and tumbled down the field.
That misfortune handed Leclerc an unexpected route back to fourth.
But there was no late Ferrari charge.
Instead, Leclerc found himself looking in his mirrors.
Championship leader Kimi Antonelli, who had crashed in qualifying and started a disastrous 16th, had staged a remarkable recovery. He swept past Hamilton with eight laps remaining and then closed rapidly on Leclerc.
The Monegasque held him off, taking fourth by less than four-tenths of a second. Hamilton followed home in sixth.
Russell Versus Verstappen
At the front, meanwhile, the Grand PrixTM had become a two-man duel.
Verstappen shadowed Russell through the final laps, rarely more than a few tenths behind. The Mercedes driver could make no mistake on a circuit where the walls wait centimetres from the racing line.
Then, on the final lap, came one last twist.
Russell lost power as Verstappen closed relentlessly. The Red Bull pulled alongside on the enormous run towards the finishing line.
Almost—but not quite.
Russell crossed the line 0.196 seconds ahead, taking his third victory of the season. Verstappen was second, while Hadjar completed an impressive afternoon for Red Bull with third.
Ferrari’s Warning Sign
For Leclerc, fourth represented damage limitation rather than satisfaction.
Ferrari had started him second and finished without a podium. More concerning was the manner in which both Red Bulls had been able to pass him during the opening stint.
“We were quite far off Mercedes, far off Red Bull, a bit behind McLaren,” Leclerc admitted afterwards, calling on Ferrari to bring upgrades to close the growing performance gap.
Hamilton was equally frustrated. He said he had struggled throughout the weekend to keep his tyres in their optimum operating window, with grip seemingly appearing and disappearing from lap to lap.
So Baku delivered two very different stories.
For Russell, it was a near-perfect weekend and a victory snatched from Verstappen by less than the blink of an eye.
For Leclerc, the front row had promised much more.
Fourth place rescued the points. It could not disguise the message from Baku: if Ferrari wants to fight Mercedes and Red Bull at the front, it needs to find more speed….and quickly.
