Ferrari once again went through a weekend they would like to forget in Azerbaijan. While both Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc showed strong pace during the practice sessions, they were unable to carry it forward during qualifying and the race.
Starting P10 and P12 on the grid, the drivers were unable to cut through the field and had to settle for P8 and P9, scoring only 6 points in total. The result cost the team 2nd place in the Championship as Mercedes had a huge points-scoring weekend in Baku.
Towards the end of the race, we did see some light drama between the Ferrari drivers when they were asked to swap positions.
Lewis Hamilton apologizes to Charles Leclerc
Heading into the race, Ferrari decided to use different strategies for both drivers. This left Hamilton on quicker tyres during the final stint of the race. With Hamilton showing a stronger pace than Ferrari’s rivals, who were ahead of the pair, the team decided to give Lewis the opportunity to try and score more points for the team.
However, the seven-time champion was caught at the back of a DRS train, making it near impossible for him to overtake. At the final lap, Ferrari asked Hamilton to give back the position to Leclerc. While the Brit did slow down, he finished four tenths ahead of Leclerc. After the race, he spoke to the media, where he apologized to his teammate.
A tough race on the Baku streets 🇦🇿 pic.twitter.com/qJ7AUMem8B
— Scuderia Ferrari HP (@ScuderiaFerrari) September 21, 2025
“At the end, I got the message really late on it,” Hamilton explained, “and I was like zoned in on the car in front of me, even though there was like 0.001 percent chance of passing, I was still hopeful.”
“Basically, I did lift on the straight and did actually brake, but he missed it by like 0.4 seconds, so it was just a misjudgement from myself, so I’ll apologise to Charles.”
“At the end of the day it’s just eighth and ninth. But it won’t happen again.”
While this was a small error on Hamilton’s part, Ferrari has bigger problems at the moment.
Ferrari’s bigger problem
Halfway through the season, it looked like Ferrari were strong enough to take 2nd in the Constructors’ Championship. However, the team has gone downward since then.
After the Belgian Grand Prix, where the team scored a podium, the team has not been able to perform to its potential. Charles took pole in Hungary but faced technical issues that saw him drop out of the podium. In Zandvoort, both Ferrari drivers suffered DNFs. This weekend, it looked like Ferrari could win, but they had disastrous qualifying sessions that placed them at the back of a DRS train in the race.
There is no doubt that the Maranello-based squad needs to do something to extract results this season. After Baku, Mercedes took second place in the Constructors’ Championship and could run away with it if Ferrari doesn’t find a way to respond.
After the summer break, it does look like Hamilton has found his form again as he is able to match his teammate’s pace during practice, qualifying, and the race. But this needs to be backed by results, which is not happening for Ferrari.
