It never rains but it pours at Ferrari: Charles Leclerc suffered from a PU issue in the opening stint.
The Azerbaijan Grand Prix did not go Leclerc’s way. After a tough qualifying, the Monegasque endured an uphill race, also due to a technical problem that compromised his performance, especially in the early stages.
Ferrari boss Frédéric Vasseur confirmed that car #16 encountered a problem linked to the hybrid system: a malfunction in the ERS recovery, which cut around 2 kW of maximum available power (roughly 3–4 km/h of top speed lost).
Leclerc explained after the race: “We struggled in the first stint because we had an issue with the power unit, which then went away—we still don’t know how. We were missing something and we don’t yet know why the engine came back to life. In any case, we didn’t have enough because the pace wasn’t very strong. But again, the race result is mostly down to yesterday’s qualifying.”
A tough weekend overall for Ferrari, unable to fight at the front. The focus now shifts to analyzing the ERS issue and bouncing back with more solidity ahead of the next round in Singapore.
