Charles Leclerc was once again frustrated when his Ferrari engine broke down in Baku. The Monegasque was leading the race and had a chance to fight with Max Verstappen for the win on the Azeri track
Charles Leclerc took another pole position and, again, ended up without points, now in Baku. This Sunday, the Monegasque was unlikely to win the race, but he was leading when the Ferrari engine sputtered again. Leclerc could not hide his frustration, especially since Max Verstappen was again leading the race.
Ferrari's day was especially terrible. Carlos Sainz had already dropped out with hydraulic problems a few laps earlier. Soon after, it was Leclerc, with his engine smoking.
"That one hurt. We really need to investigate this properly, make sure this doesn't happen again. I have no words to describe it, but it's very, very frustrating. We were fast and had no problems at the beginning of the season, but now we seem to have more, and that's without messing things up too much," he said.
After the abandonment in Baku, Leclerc charged Ferrari to take some action, as the championships, both drivers' and constructors', are starting to slip away from the Italians.
"We need to do something. It's hard to understand now what happened, but we will analyze, I still don't know what happened. But, again, it hurts," he added.
With the abandonment, Leclerc stopped at 116 points and will most likely leave Azerbaijan in third, surpassed also by Sergio Pérez. The gap to Verstappen is likely to pass 30 points.
Formula 1 2022 returns as early as next week, with the Canadian GP, the ninth round of the season.