Charles Leclerc speechless after Azerbaijan GP blowout as Ferrari admit engine concern

Leclerc was disconsolate as he reacted to the engine blowout which cost him the chance to win the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, as Mattia Binotto admitted he was worried about the issue

Charles Leclerc was gutted after his engine failure in the Azerbaijan Grand Prix (

Image: Sky Sports F1)

Charles Leclerc cut a disconsolate figure as he described his “hurt” after an engine blowout forced him to retire from the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

Ferrari ‘s hopes were pinned upon the Monegasque racer from an early point in the race after Carlos Sainz retired with his own mechanical issue. The decision to pit early looked to have paid off as Leclerc was in the lead by the time Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez changed tyres.

But there was more heartbreak in store for Ferrari, as their other car was out of action before the race had even reached its half-way point. As he flew down the main straight of the Baku street circuit, a huge plume of smoke flew out the back of Leclerc’s car and he was forced to pull over and get out.

After trudging back to the paddock, the 24-year-old struggled to find the words to describe how he felt in the wake of losing so much ground to race winner Verstappen in the title race. “It hurts,” was his simple reply when asked for his immediate reaction to the engine failure.

“We really need to look into that for it to not happen again,” he added. “I don’t really find the right words to describe it, it’s disappointment. I don’t know, we need to look into it.”

After digesting the result, he later went on to add: “We’ve been fast, we didn’t have reliability problems in the first part of the season. Now it seems we have a bit more, but we didn’t change massive things. It’s difficult to understand for now, we will have to analyse. I don’t have the full picture at the moment. Just personally, it hurts.”

Leclerc has now failed to convert his last four pole positions into race wins (

Image:

Sky Sports F1)

In the big picture, the race will have thrown up a lot of worries for Ferrari, both as a team and an engine supplier. As well as losing both their own drivers to mechanical failures, Alfa Romeo racer Zhou Guanyu and Kevin Magnussen of Haas – both in Ferrari-powered cars – also had to retire.

When asked about it post-race, Mattia Binotto admitted it is a concern: “We said it even before coming here in Baku, reliability is always a key factor in the battle. As a team, we pushed a lot to develop the car during the winter, but we proved we are not yet fully reliable.

“There is still some work to be done. We didn’t get euphoric at the start of the season, we will not be deflated right now. The team will stay focused, work hard and make us stronger for the future.”

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