Scuderia Ferrari had set itself the goal after Monza: to win a race before the end of the world championship. Neither Charles Leclerc, nor even Lewis Hamilton, have succeeded this year. The Monegasque, after Monza, had narrowed its scope by stating that the routes on which the SF-25 would have the greatest chance of success would be those of Baku, Singapore and Las Vegas.
We had already pointed out that Charles had perhaps been too optimistic on that occasion and had further reduced the group by stating that perhaps only in Marina Bay could Ferrari hope to obtain a victory that after Monza seemed impossible.
Leclerc retracted, there is no point in creating false expectations
Unfortunately, however, the problem, as has often happened this year, is that the Italian team seemed to believe they had a good chance in Azerbaijan. He had finished practice at the top on Friday in both set flying lap times and race pace mode. Which only raised further false hopes. An illusion, since both McLaren and Red Bull had approached the sessions with more conservative engine mapping.
The qualification then dramatically brought the men and women of Maranello back to reality. Hamilton was eliminated in Q2 and Leclerc, in whom all the hopes of the Ferrari environment were pinned, made a mistake. Then forced to start from tenth position, he thus saw all his chances of achieving at least one good result disappear.
Deeply disappointed by his performances, but also by those of the car entrusted to him by his beloved team, Charles completely retracted the statement released post-Monza. This year it will be really difficult to win a race. Singapore and Las Vegas no longer look as attractive as they were two weeks ago. Leclerc remains open to surprises, but... better to stay grounded and not create false expectations.
Photo: Ferrari
Read in the Italian version: Ferrari, Leclerc deluso. Crollano anche le ultime convinzioni
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