The main theme of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix mirrored the main theme of the first three races of the season: Red Bull dominance. Sergio Pérez and Max Verstappen finished 1-2 in Baku, the second time this season that the Bulls locked out the front row, and the fourth win in four races for the team.
Charles Leclerc just wants someone to ask him a question
Enjoy this clip of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc just waiting for someone to send a question his way after the Azerbaijan GP
Photo by Bryn Lennon/Getty Images
Mark Schofield is a former college quarterback and attorney covering the NFL and F1.
Just behind them was Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, who scored the first podium of the season for the Scuderia, after capturing pole position for both the Sprint race on Saturday, and Sunday’s main event.
But during the post-race press conferences, Verstappen and Pérez handled more than their share of questions, and Leclerc was sitting with them, waiting patiently for someone to send a query his way. The press conference began with Pérez and Verstappen handling the first eight questions, as is customary due to their finishing order. But when the press conference was opened up to the floor for seven questions, five were addressed to the Red Bull drivers directly, with the other two aimed at the trio of drivers.
To that end, enjoy this quick video cutup of the Ferrari driver slowly wondering when someone would ask him about his day:
There was a lot to ask Leclerc about the weekend. Was Ferrari closing the gap to Red Bull? Had they figured out the right setup for the SF-23 going forward? And when Leclerc was given a question to address, he had some extremely insightful answers. At the start of the press conference when all three drivers were interviewed in turn, Leclerc was asked if Ferrari had closed the gap to the Bulls, and he offered this in response:
“Got closer, maybe a little bit, but still very far behind in race pace at least, and I also think that we also behind Aston Martin in terms of race pace. So, we really need to work on that because for now, over one lap, taking a bit more risk, of course I did also two great laps I think, in Qualifying, which helped us to be in front, but then, over 51 laps race, there is not much we can do more. So today, we’ve optimised absolutely everything. The thing we should be happy about after a weekend like this is that we’ve maximised every session. I don’t think we could have done anything better in any of those sessions. So that is a positive – but still a lot of work to do in terms of race pace.”
He was also asked about tyre management, which has been a huge issue for the team this season. Leclerc had this to say on the matter:
Well, we have to with our car otherwise we kill them, and then we cannot get them back and then this has a big influence on our performance. So, I think we did the perfect management today. But again, as I said, we are just not quick enough. Whether we lack at the beginning of the stint, or at the end of the stint, this we can change but yeah, we just don’t have enough performance for now.
Here’s hoping Leclerc gets to answer some more questions, and notches some more podiums, as the season rolls on.
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