September 14, 2024 · 5:59 pm

Alpine’s “no advantage” argument fails as Gasly disqualified from Baku qualifying

Gasly has been kicked out of Baku qualifying

Pierre Gasly has been disqualified from the results of Baku qualifying for a fuel flow infringement, and the Alpine driver will thus start Sunday’s race from the back of the grid.

The Frenchman did a great job to be fourth fastest in Q1, and he was then 13th in the second session.

However FIA technical boss Jo Bauer then determined that the car had “exceeded the instantaneous fuel mass flow” in Q2, an offence that led to an automatic exclusion from qualifying, although the team argued that far from boost performance the offence had the opposite effect.

The Enstone team tried a similar “no advantage” argument five years ago to the week at the 2019 Singapore GP when Daniel Ricciardo was deemed to have had an MGU-K power spike that led to his disqualification.

On this occasion the FIA noted: “The team representatives explained that they had an unexpected short duration technical fault that raised the fuel mass flow greater than expected in a transient fashion. The cause was agreed by the FIA technical staff.

“That the fuel mass flow was greater than the limit at that moment was not disputed by the competitor.

“The competitor demonstrated to the Stewards that the technical fault resulted in a slower lap time and that no performance advantage was obtained at that moment.

“Thus, they argue, this should be taken into mitigation. They also noted that the great rarity of breaches of this article demonstrates that this is not part of their strategy, and that the scale of the transient simply exceeded the margin they maintain to prevent a beach.”

Those who will now move up a place on the grid are Nico Hulkenberg, Lance Stroll, Daniel Ricciardo, Lando Norris, Valtteri Bottas, Esteban Ocon and Zhou Guanyu.

“I’m pretty satisfied with the outcome of today’s qualifying performance,” said Gasly. “It is obviously a pity that a minor fuel flow infringement means we are disqualified from the session.

“In any case, we expected to find it tough to reach Q2 as the car has been tricky all weekend, which has shown on the timesheets throughout practice. I was very pleased with my laps in qualifying and, even if the result doesn’t look spectacular, it was one of our most complete sessions of the season.

“The car has been sliding a lot, generally lacking rear grip, and we managed to improve that with some changes. We will have to stay calm in the race tomorrow and aim to be in the mix at the end. It’s usually a tough one here for racing and a lot can happen so we will give it our all from the back.”

Team boss Oliver Oakes said: “Today was initially looking like a more promising day after the difficulties we faced during practice on Friday, where we struggled. Despite a great effort from Pierre to progress to the second part of Qualifying, he was later disqualified for exceeding the fuel mass flow on his final run in Q2, which is disappointing given the speed he showed.”

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September 14, 2024 · 3:53 pm

Colapinto had “big confidence boost” after Williams crew fixed crashed FW46

Colapinto was hugely impressive in Baku qualifying

Franco Colapinto says that his crash in FP1 in Baku had a positive outcome as the Williams Formula 1 crew gave him a “big confidence boost” and “energy” after repairing his FW46.

Colapinto had a heavy impact with the wall on Friday as he undertook his first ever laps of a track that was new to him.

Such a crash could have seen him taking a more subdued approach to the rest of the weekend, but in fact it had the opposite affect for a man who has impressed the team with his glass half full attitude.

The car was repaired in time for FP2, and the rookie repaid the team with a sensational qualifying session that saw him eighth, sixth and ninth across the three sessions. He starts one place ahead of team mate Alex Albon.

“Yeah, it was difficult,” he said when asked by the writer about the setback of the early crash.

“But more difficult it was going to be if I couldn’t do FP2. And luckily, the boys in the garage did an amazing job to put the car back out. They didn’t even have lunch, but they were working flat out to put my car out in FP2.

“And after they did that, they gave me a big confidence boost and a lot of energy to try and achieve a good result for them, for the effort that they have been doing this year, and it was nice today to give them back a little bit of what they gave me.

“So very happy about it. Of course, it’s still a long way to go, but it’s always important moment for you to be in Q3. And I did very good laps, every lap was on it.”

Remarkably for his second ever f1 start Colapinto will line up on the grid directly behind World Champions Max Verstappen, Lewis Hamilton, and Fernando Alonso.

“Looking forward to tomorrow,” he said. “I think I’m going to have to practice a few stars to have it a better launch than them! Luckily it is a short straight until Turn 1.

“But I am very excited, it’s an amazing moment, my first Q3, and I am very happy about it, to be honest.

“It’s a moment every driver dreams of, and I achieved it in my second weekend in F1 so I can’t be any more happy.

“It was a very good session. I think we put the laps in, every time I had to go out, we did a very good job as a team. Of course, I would have been good to finish in front of the Aston [of Alonso], maybe, but we did a little step on the setup to see what we can do.

“If it will be in a little bit, a little bit more for the last run on the new tyres, but it didn’t really work out, the rears, they didn’t stay alive for the whole lap. But I think the team did an amazing job to put the two cars in Q3. three.

“It’s a very important moment for Williams. It’s, for me, a dream come true after yesterday’s contact with the wall it was going to be tough, but I think we did very good comeback.”

Colapinto acknowledged that the Azerbaijan GP is rarely uneventful.

“This race is always a drama,” he said. “So let’s see how it is tomorrow. It’s my first race here, first time I’ve been in Baku. So everything is going very quick. I don’t know either the next six races.

“It’s going to be a challenge, at the end of the year. But I am up to the challenge, and I am very happy to be here, and, of course, extremely grateful Williams for this opportunity.”

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September 14, 2024 · 3:11 pm

Verstappen not comfortable with “unpredictable” and “difficult” RB20

Verstappen had a difficult time in Baku qualifying

Max Verstappen endured another difficult Formula 1 qualifying session in Baku, and the Dutchman will start Sunday’s race in sixth place – two spots behind Red Bull team mate Sergio Perez.

Verstappen was generally happier with the car over the weekend after a floor tweak since Monza. However, a last minute set-up change for qualifying made the car worse again.

He still managed to top the times in Q2, but the final session proved difficult, and he made a mistake on his first run.

“It’s always difficult to know of course what will happen in Q3,” he said when asked by this writer if he’d expected more after being fastest in Q2.

“But as soon as I went out in Q1 the first lap, I just felt the car took a step back. We made some changes, and the car just became incredibly unpredictable, difficult, just because of the changes that we made.

“And of course I’m a bit disappointed with that, because you always try to, of course, optimise things and try to make it better. And unfortunately, we just tipped it over the edge.

“Yeah, a shame that that happened into qualifying. Then, of course, my first one in Q3 I lost it in the last corner. Otherwise, you’re still fighting for P2, P3, but then you still have a run, you can still improve your lap time.

“And yeah, just didn’t have the feeling in the car. I didn’t feel comfortable, because the car was difficult.

“And when you don’t feel comfortable and you can’t attack corners, you’re probably a bit under it. And yeah, that’s what’s going to happen.”

Asked if the car was still the “monster” that he described in Monza he denied that was the case.

“No, no, I think what we did improve the car. But now with the setup we tried to of course make a few things better, and unfortunately, it went the other way.

“We changed change some things on the car, where the car just started jumping around a lot, so you lose contact patch with the tarmac.

“I was not happy with the car, already from lap one Q1, so I knew that it was going to be tough qualifying regardless.

“I think my lap in Q2 was actually good, considering all the issues that I had, because personally, I was not happy with how the car was behaving. But of course, you still tried to do the best you can.”

Regarding what has been improved he said: “I think the balance disconnect, but I think naturally it’s any way the track for it.

“But yeah, we’re still working and fine tuning that further from now onwards, to try and just get the balance disconnect more together. Let’s say like that.”

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September 14, 2024 · 2:43 pm

Norris on starting P17 in Baku: “I don’t expect anything magical…”

Norris will start a disastrous 17th in Baku

Lando Norris admits that he doesn’t expect “anything magical” to happen for him in Sunday’s Azerbaijan GP after he qualified a frustrated 17th.

The McLaren driver needed a good time on his final lap in Q1 in order to progress to the second session.

He ran over the kerb on the exit of the lefthander that leads onto the long pit straight, but continued his lap.

However he then caught yellow flags that were displayed as Esteban Ocon toured back to the pits with a puncture after clipping the wall. Having backed off he aborted the lap and pitted.

The grid position is a clear blow to his title aspirations, although rival Max Verstappen will only start sixth.

Asked by this writer if his only hope to score decent points on Sunday was to rely on a strategy Norris agreed.

“I think everything’s kind of going to have to be done with strategy, because you can’t overtake,” he said.

“There’s plenty of cars at the back, which have just kind of taken all the wing off and just hope for the best. And that makes it impossible for a lot of cars to overtake them.

“The car’s quick, and we kind of hope that I can come into our hands and at some point I can get clean air.

“But on a street circuit, everything gets backed up so much, you just kind of get forced into a position, and you can’t do a lot at times. So we’ll hope for the best. But I don’t expect anything magical, unless strategy comes into play.”

Asked what is possible on Sunday he said: “I don’t know how to answer, try and race and go forwards and overtake. But it’s not as simple as saying it.”

Although he was in the position of having to make his final Q1 lap count Norris denied the suggestion that he was on the back foot as the session unfolded.

“No, I wasn’t really on the back foot,” he said. “Just the guy ahead of me crashed and there were yellow flags. I was feeling good.

“I mean, when you have a 2kms two straight and you left lift at the beginning – of course, so nothing I could do, honestly. So of course, a bit disappointed and frustrated, but nothing I can change.”

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September 13, 2024 · 4:37 pm

Bearman impresses Haas team on Baku “dry run” for 2025

Bearman had an encouraging first day in Baku

Oliver Bearman impressed his Haas team in Azerbaijan on Friday on what he called a “dry run” ahead of his fulltime Formula 1 graduation next season.

The teenager has stepped into the team as a one-off replacement for Kevin Magnussen, who has been banned for a race after accumulating 12 penalty points.

Baku is his first full F1 race weekend after he was called into action for Ferrari on Saturday in Jeddah earlier this year.

He logged 10th place in FP2, just 0.072s shy of team mate Nico Hulkenberg, at a venue where he shone in F2 last year.

“I was really happy with how we finished,” he said. “The main thing was that I completed all the laps we could. A lot of red flags, a lot of interruptions.

“But I was pretty happy with how things went. I was building up step-by-step, and at the end, I found good confidence with the car. So, yeah, good way to go to sleep and start fresh start tomorrow.

“This whole weekend is a dry run for next year. I’m learning so much. Today was my first FP2 session!

“I’m in a much better place than I was few months ago going into FP3, which is great. And the track is making a big step every time I run. And these are things that I wouldn’t know. It’s my first time doing the full weekend, and I’m learning a lot.”

After the session his engineer praised him on the radio for an “excellent” long run performance, and he was pleased to receive such positive feedback.

“Yeah, it was an encouraging day overall,” he said. “I started with a few question marks. This is a really tough track, and my second F1 race is going to be on another street track.

“So it’s not easy, but I was really happy with how the day went. I made a good step from FP1 to FP2 and I felt comfortable with the car. So what more can you ask for?”

He added: “I’m focusing really on myself, and the encouraging part is that I feel confident in the car, I’m comfortable, which was a bit less the case in FP1, but with the track conditions like that, it’s really tough.

“FP2 I was feeling comfortable, and I felt like I could do what I wanted with the car, and I was controlling it. FP1 was a bit more messy, just for the track state.”

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September 13, 2024 · 12:34 pm

Horner: Abu Dhabi rookie sprint event “a fantastic opportunity”

Horner is fully behind the Abu Dhabi rookie sprint

Red Bull boss Christian Horner says that the planned Abu Dhabi Formula 1 rookie sprint event will be a “fantastic opportunity” for young drivers.

As previously reported the idea is to have a short qualifying session followed by a sprint race at Yas Marina on the Tuesday after the season finale.

One car from each team will take part with a rookie driver, defined as someone who hasn’t started more than two races.

The event will give already confirmed 2025 race drivers Kimi Antonelli, Jack Doohan and Oliver Bearman a chance to run some extra mileage.

Bearman will still be eligible assuming he doesn’t make a third F1 start between this weekend’s Azerbaijan GP and the end of the season.

In contrast Franco Colapinto and Liam Lawson won’t be able to take part.

Other teams can run drivers who otherwise would be unlikely to have a chance race an F1 car in the foreseeable future, with Red Bull likely to field Isack Hadjar and Ayumu Iwasa in the RBR and VCARB cars.

First discussed seriously by the F1 Commission a couple of months ago the event took a step closer to becoming a reality after a meeting of team managers in the sporting advisory commission in Geneva last week.

The gathering discussed specific rules for the event any potential anomalies that would need to be addressed.

Although as a sprint there will be no scheduled stops the idea of not having full pit crews on hand as a cost-saving exercise is unlikely to happen, in case anyone has to stop with a puncture or wing damage.

“It’s something that I tabled at the last couple of F1 Commissions,” said Horner when asked about the event by this writer.

“I think it’s great for the young drivers. And I think that the problem with some of the rookie tests is they all get used for testing, you never know are they running on 50 kilos, 70 kilos, 30 kilos of fuel? What engine mode are they going? You don’t really know.

“You don’t know how the opposition are doing. So I think this as a non-championship race for the junior drivers, I think it’s fantastic opportunity.

“It comes at the end of a busy season, but opposed to just running around burning fuel and tyres and only the teams that are running those drivers knowing whether they’re doing a good job or not, to give potentially 10 drivers or 10 rookies the opportunity of jumping in the current cars and having the equivalent of a sprint race, I think it’s fantastic, and I think it’ll be a really popular event.”

Horner said that the challenges associated with making the event happen at short notice will be overcome.

“It’s like all things in life. If you want it to happen, you make it happen,” he said. “And I think there was a clear directive to say, ‘Come on, let’s get the job done for this year.’

“And so obviously that puts pressure on the sporting working groups and the various team managers to work with the FIA to come up with a set of regulations, but I think mainly adopting sprint regs and so on, it’s eminently doable.

“Doesn’t need to be over-complicated. I think it’s just going to be a single car from each team, rather than two cars. And effectively you’re just using the mileage in a different way, as opposed to just performing during a test day.

“So I think the event will take place all in one day, so qualifying, and then the equivalent of a sprint race. So it comes at the end of a long season, but I think it’ll be a great thing. It’s a great opportunity for young drivers, and we’re fully supportive of it.”

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September 13, 2024 · 11:03 am

Red Bull “licked our wounds” before bringing RB20 floor update

Red Bull has a “subtle” floor change for Baku

Red Bull has brought a small floor revision for the RB20 to the Azerbaijan GP as the first step of its reaction to a disappointing Italian GP.

Max Verstappen qualified seventh and finished sixth at Monza, complaining about the tricky balance of the car, and calling it a “monster”.

Verstappen said on Thursday that lessons had been learned, while conceding that it would take time for the results to work their way through the system.

The initial floor mod did make it in time for Baku, with the team’s official submission to the FIA noting that there were “changes applied to improve the pressure gradients along the floor to improve the flow locally and downstream in all conditions.”

RBR chief engineer Paul Monaghan noted that the team had “licked our wounds” as it tried to get to the bottom of the issues.

“We’re not going to sit still from his comments or our performance in Monza and do nothing to bring here and hope,” he said when asked by this writer about Verstappen’s comments about lessons being learned.

“There are many ways to address the car’s behaviour from Monza, and it touches all the aspects of the car, not just whether we revise a floor geometry or a wing geometry.

“So it would be naive of us to think that we can just leave it. So we’ve licked our wounds, learned our lessons. The proof in the pudding will be, obviously Sunday, but we’ve tried to bring changes to the car, and make it better.

“And we don’t want to watch Monza again. It wasn’t the most pleasant event for us, so we’d like to improve relative for our position.”

He added: “We’ve got to look at why has the car been better prior to Zandvoort and Monza? Was it us? Was it our opposition? Is it combination of the two?

“I think we have to look upon ourselves, because we can’t influence what our opposition does, and try to make our car better, and that’s what we’re trying to do.

“It’s all about putting together the package that Max can drive, feels confident in. Look at the first few races of the season, ‘Oh, you’re not going to get caught.’

“And here we are in a bit of a fight. So between Max and Checo and the whole team, not just what you see here, the question is can we put together a car that can defend the titles?”

Monaghan indicated that the Baku revision is a first step given the time constraints, and that there’s more to come in Singapore next weekend.

“The lessons are kind of ongoing, and the immediate reaction tends to be at the later races,” he said. “So it’s a testament to everybody that we got it here. A lot of hard work, and that hard work will continue. Singapore’s only a week away.

“So it that will be potentially another evolution for us. The scale of the update kind of determines the phase lag in there.

“So if we’ve managed to do it for this race, it’s not the biggest one we’ll ever undertake in terms of geometry change. It’s subtle. Could the effect be good? Yes. And I think the proof in the pudding will be on Sunday afternoon.”

The unusual three week gap after Singapore gives the team time to make bigger changes to Austin, but Monaghan conceded that the sprint format means it won’t be the deail place to introduce updates.

“It gives us the freedom to potentially do more,” he said of the gap. “The disciplined approach is to say is it valuable enough to spend the money to do it, to take it to Austin?

“And don’t forget, Austin’s a sprint race, so you’re going to roll the dice in P1 and then, okay, yes, no, indifferent? Keep it, not keep it?

“But that then leaves us potentially with few of any one piece. So your choices for Austin are team dependent, and somewhat confidence dependent.”

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September 13, 2024 · 10:09 am

Hamilton: Newey decision “doesn’t change anything” on Ferrari move

Hamilton won’t get to work with Newey after all

Lewis Hamilton says that Adrian Newey’s decision to join Aston Martin “doesn’t change anything” in terms of his move to Ferrari in 2025.

Hamilton signed for the Italian team long before Newey’s departure from Red Bull became official and he became a free agent.

However his name was quickly associated with Maranello, and for a while it appeared that Fred Vasseur had convinced him to join, potentially making Hamilton’s move look perfectly timed.

However in the end Newey opted to stay in the UK and join Aston, swayed in part by the opportunity to become a shareholder.

Asked if he was disappointed by the news Hamilton insisted that he was not.

“Honestly, no,” he said. “Whilst I mentioned before that it would be an honour to work with Adrian, I’ve been privileged to work with two championship-winning teams that didn’t have Adrian, for example.

“And I think probably any team would have been happy to have had him. But at the end of the day, you have to do what was best for him.

“It doesn’t change anything for me or my goal or my focus with the next move. So I still believe 100% that there’s lots that we can do.”

Hamilton also conceded recently that his impending departure from Mercedes is starting to hit home, having noted after Monza that it was his last race working from his room in the team’s Europe-based hospitality building.

“I couldn’t have predicted the emotional rollercoasters I’ve had already this year,” he said when asked by this writer about the subject.

“It’s definitely going to be tough, very, very difficult. I think just after the race, I was sitting in my room and after the debrief, and it literally just dawned on me. I was like, oh my god, this is our last European race, and that place had been home to such a great working environment.

“It wasn’t actually that room the whole 12 years, because we had an older motorhome in the first one or two I think it was but, but still, that was my space, and to be able to have a such an enjoyable environment, to be able to work in, it’s definitely going to be really missed.

“So I was more emotional about that than I was about the weekend, or the race! I’m just trying to be really present with the team, really try to be fully engaged in conversations. And yeah, don’t want to forget it.”

Hamilton also noted that the current competitiveness of the field is positive for F1.

“It’s amazing,” he said. “This is how it should be. I think that’s ultimately probably the goal when they set the rules. But it never works out that way.

“So it’s great that we’re in that phase with McLaren have come, have had a great rise out of nowhere, you see the Ferrari win in the last race, and us before that.

“So hopefully, these next eight races, or whatever is left, that hopefully you’ll see something more like that, and it stays consistent, I hope.”

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September 13, 2024 · 9:44 am

Oakes: Alpine needed a boss “who takes the bullet for the team”

Oliver Oakes admits that he’s still learning about Alpine

New Alpine Formula 1 boss Oliver Oakes sees his role as someone “who takes the bullet for the team” and gives the Enstone staff support and direction.

Oakes was named during the summer break as the new team principal after the departure of Bruno Famin, working under the overall direction of Flavio Briatore.

He says he arrived knowing that he would need time to learn about the operation and determine what can be done better.

“I didn’t come in with any preconceived ideas in terms of what I thought about the team,” he said. “Because at the end of the day, until you’re in somewhere, you don’t know the people closely.

“You don’t know what they’ve gone through. You read about it, and I’ve known certain members of the team, and had some snippets. But I didn’t come in with any preconceived ideas.

“I think you come with your own ethos and approach in terms of how you feel you need to build that trust, that unity and stability back in the team. But I think that’s sort of who you are as a person.

“That’s not because of actually the specific team. For me, I think I know pretty well some of the stories that have gone on at Enstone, sort of the long statements made, and I knew how that had a sort of adverse effect in different ways.

“So the main thing I came with, really, was a sort of clean sheet of paper of, right, where are we at now? What things have we done right? What haven’t we done right?

“And actually, you also want to listen a bit as well to some of that, because you need to get to the bottom of it. It’s never as simple as you know one person, one mistake. There’s always loads of things that have gone into it.”

Oakes insisted that there is now “a clear vision” of the direction to take.

“It’s a pretty special place, Enstone,” he noted. “I keep saying it, but there is a lot of knowledge there, it’s been in F1 a long, long time, as Flavio keeps reminding me daily!

“But because of that the place knows what it’s doing, it just genuinely needs some leadership, and it needs support.

“I’m going to say this because it’s on my shoulders, but I think it’s actually got a clear vision now and clear leadership with me and Flavio there. We’re committed, and as he does keep saying as well, I got the job because I live down the road!

“I enjoy being there, and it does require full commitment from those who are running it, and I think the place probably hasn’t had that for a couple of years.

“And I think that’s the biggest thing I wanted to bring, really, that there’s someone there who takes the bullet for the team, gives them the support and the direction they need.

“That was my only real sort of vision before starting. I actually felt it needed that. It needed someone there who was a racer, who understood what everybody was going through. I’ve just got to deliver, haven’t I?”

The biggest uncertainty in the camp concerns the 2026 power unit, with the Renault project in Viry to be abandoned in favour of a Mercedes customer supply, although the arrangement has not be formally confirmed.

“There’s obviously certain sensitive topics at the moment!,” said Oakes. “I think they’ve been spoken about a lot. I think what hasn’t been spoken about much is about what we plan to do at Enstone, by the same sort of token, really.

“Viry is undergoing a bit of an assessment of the project. And the same things going on at Enstone. We need to understand, actually, where we are good, where we need to improve, and also what changes need to be made as a small sort of evolution and step forward, particularly as we are coming into that transition now, with ’26 on the horizon. It’s a pretty big time in F1 at the moment.

“And I think, from my point of view, it’s quite fortunate to have landed straight after the shutdown that I think I’ve got a bit of time to influence the direction we’re going in, and make sure what happened the beginning of the year, and sort of decisions that were made last summer that caused that problem that we try to mitigate that.

“Because at the end of the day, this team hasn’t forgotten how to build a good race car and to go racing. It’s done that through every cycle of regulations, which is pretty impressive, really.”

Oakes stressed that the updates introduced at Spa paid off with a strong seventh place for Pierre Gasly at Zandvoort,

“I think was quite a good uplift for us, particularly made me look good being in the points on my first weekend!,” he said.

“But I think that was very, very positive, particularly from where the team started the beginning of the season. Full credit to them for that.

“We plan between now and the end of the year to bring a couple more [updates]. We definitely will bring a little bit more performance between now and the end of the year.

“At the end of the day, we want to continue I’d say that sort of recovery from the beginning of the year.”

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September 12, 2024 · 3:57 pm

Leclerc believes Ferrari can still target constructors’ championship

Leclerc believes that Ferrari can still win the title in 2024

Charles Leclerc says that Scuderia Ferrari team can target the 2024 Formula 1 constructors’ championship and he insists that there is still “everything to play for” with eight races remaining.

However he admitted that the Italian team has to improve the SF-24 and become more consistently competitive over the last part of the season.

Ferrari currently lies 39 points behind leaders Red Bull, and 31 behind McLaren.

“Yeah, there’s definitely an opportunity,” said Leclerc when asked by this writer about the upcoming races.

“I think realistically to go and take the drivers’ championship is going to require not only a step in performance, but probably a little bit of luck as well.

“For the constructors’, everything is to play for. I think it’s 40-something points, which with two drivers in one team, it’s feasible. On that we’ve got our chances, and it’s a target we shall fix ourselves.

“But before that, before thinking about any title, we’ve got to improve our car in order to be consistently in the fight with the guys in the front, and not be there in one race just because they didn’t optimise their package, and then be a little bit more in the back foot. Because then otherwise, we’ll struggle.”

Leclerc conceded that Ferrari still lags behind its two main rivals.

“I don’t think we are at the level of McLaren and Red Bull yet,” he said. “I think like in Monza, when they don’t optimise their package, we can be there and try and win it, and we did it in Monza.

“However, going forward, we still have some steps forward to be done in order to challenge them consistently.

“They still have the faster car, especially McLaren, I think then it’s probably Red Bull, and then Mercedes, it depends, with us. We are a bit more inconsistent. We still have some work to do.”

Leclerc is a favourite for this weekend given his strong form in Baku over the years, but he cautioned that the team’s Monza pace might not translate to the street track.

“Not more than other tracks,” he said when asked if he was confident of a good weekend.

 “Now we’ve got to reset whenever we come to a track, and not think about the previous race.

“We’ve seen it in Montreal after Monaco, Monaco went pretty well, and then we struggled a lot in Montreal. So we’ve got to come here with a new mindset. Not a new mindset, because the mindset remains the same, but with no expectations, and that’s what we try to do.

“Then, of course, I cannot forget that it’s one of my favourite tracks, and I love this track, and I feel particularly at ease on this one.

“So normally, I’ve been pretty strong in the past. However, it doesn’t influence the way I prepare myself for this race. I just prepare myself as well as any other race weekends.”

Regarding the car’s potential this weekend he said: “Our mechanical package, at least the one that for the compliances, is going to be very similar to the rest of the season. We are not bringing any upgrades on that.

“So I will expect that our compliances in the slow speed are still very good. And that should be a strength.

“It’s a strength of our car. I think we it should be a strong weekend for us here. At least on the paper, it’s a more positive weekend than others, but we’ve still got to confirm that on track.”

Having won Monza with great tyre management Leclerc believes that could also be an advantage in Baku.

“I think Singapore will be more about quali pace, more than tyre management,” he said.

“Here, it can be a factor. I mean, it will be a factor. So here, definitely in the past, that’s where we’ve been struggling, in the race and in qualifying we were very strong.

“But then coming the race, we were struggling with tyre management, which this year seems to be a bit more of a strength, quite a bit more, if you compare it to the years before. So I hope we can use that strength here in order to be more competitive on Sunday.”

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