Ferrari in Baku: nine races, five poles and still no win

Ferrari have taken pole position five times in nine races in Baku without ever winning there. Charles Leclerc took four straight poles from 2021 to 2024 but has no victory to show for them. Without a podium in their last four races, Ferrari face the jinx again at this Saturday's (26 September) Azerbaijan GP, carrying the podium (top-three) target set by team principal Frédéric Vasseur.

Five poles, zero wins

According to F1-News (f1-news.eu), across the nine events held in Baku, including the 2016 European GP, Ferrari have five poles and five podiums but no wins. Tuttosport gives the same five poles over those nine events but only four podiums, so the sources disagree. The table below shows the year-by-year record as set out by F1-News; that source does not cover 2017 or 2025.

F1-News sums up the record by saying that "being fast has never been enough". Baku combines an old-town section with almost no margin for error and long full-throttle stretches, so tyre management, reliability, strategy calls around the Safety Car and aero efficiency on the straights all have to come together perfectly across the weekend. Its analysis is that Ferrari had the qualifying pace but could not hold that balance in the race.

Four races without a podium; Vasseur says 'we must put everything together'

More pressing than the jinx is the recent form. Ferrari have gone four races without a podium since the Belgian GP at Spa, and Sky Sports notes that their only podium in the last five races was Leclerc's second place at Spa. They are second in the constructors' standings but 145 points behind leaders Mercedes, and their margin over third-placed McLaren has shrunk to 52 points. In the drivers' standings, after retiring in Madrid, Lewis Hamilton is 101 points behind leader Kimi Antonelli, with Leclerc 125 behind. Nine rounds remain.

In his pre-race comments, Vasseur said: "The recent races have shown our car can be very competitive, but they have also shown how important it is to bring every element of the weekend together." He went on: "Baku is a very different challenge, and confidence in the car and execution of our work will be especially important," adding: "It's a circuit with lots of variables across the weekend and it is hard to predict, so we need to focus on ourselves, adapt to any situation and make the most of every opportunity." F1-News says Baku is a test for Vasseur after the recent slump, with a podium the target. Tuttosport believes the straight of more than 2km could further expose the SF-26's power deficit to Mercedes.

Rosberg: 'the Achilles heel is strategy and communication'

On Sky Sports' The F1 Show podcast, 2016 champion Nico Rosberg located Ferrari's weakness not in the car but in how the team operates. "The Achilles heel is still in the strategy area, in the communication area. That has always been the weakness," he said, adding: "They're very close. They just aren't putting it together properly." It is a critique of a team that has a competitive car but lacks consistency, and it maps exactly onto its Baku record of poles without wins.

In short, Ferrari have two hurdles to clear in Baku this weekend: a winless run stretching to nine races, and the strategy and communication weakness Rosberg identified. Whether this becomes the weekend where, in Vasseur's words, they "bring every element together" is the key to a return to the podium.

Sources

• F1-News.eu — F1, Ferrari e il paradosso di Baku: pole senza vittoria, perché
• F1-News.eu — F1, Ferrari sotto pressione a Baku: Vasseur chiede una reazione
• Tuttosport — Ferrari sotto esame e Baku fra novità e mantra Vasseur
• OA Sport — Frederic Vasseur: Ferrari competitiva nelle ultime gare, ma Baku rappresenta una sfida diversa
• Sky Sports — Ferrari boss Frederic Vasseur sets goal for Azerbaijan GP as Nico Rosberg pinpoints team's Achilles heel