Ferrari have chosen Baku as the place to spend Leclerc’s engine penalty. A new power unit takes him beyond his season allocation, and the automatic consequence is a drop to the back for the race, with team principal Fred Vasseur pointing to Azerbaijan as the sensible venue to absorb the hit.

The Baku City Circuit’s long pit straight and heavy braking zones make it one of the best passing circuits on the calendar. That is the calculation behind the timing.

The engine story traces back to Leclerc’s lap-two crash at Monza on 6 September, when a rear-end snap on the exit of the Parabolica pitched him into the tyre barrier and destroyed the second ADUO-spec unit Ferrari had introduced that weekend under the FIA’s development-upgrade scheme.

Ferrari initially believed the engine could be salvaged. Vasseur later admitted the damaged unit would need replacing, which pushed the penalty to this weekend.

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A voice from Ferrari’s Schumacher years

Ceccarelli, who founded the Formula Medicine centre and worked with Ferrari’s drivers during the Michael Schumacher era, has coached Leclerc’s mind since Leclerc’s karting days. In an interview with talkSPORT, he said he could not offer a clear explanation for the run of incidents that has followed his driver into the second half of the 2026 season.

He had already offered a public read on Leclerc earlier this year, telling reporters that the Monegasque is far harder on himself than on the team around him.

“Leclerc is someone who, when he makes a mistake, doesn’t let it go for two days and just sits there thinking about it. Whereas if, for example, his pit wall makes a mistake, he’s over it after two hours.”

Ceccarelli built Formula Medicine on a data-driven method that treats mental fitness as something trainable, and he has worked with drivers ranging from Ayrton Senna and Michael Schumacher to the current generation.

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Baku history is not a comfort

Even before the penalty, Baku was a peculiar circuit for Leclerc. He took four consecutive Azerbaijan poles between 2021 and 2024 without turning any of them into a win, a record that has followed him around Baku all year.

Any pole hopes are gone for 2026. Ferrari were only fourth (Leclerc) and fifth (Lewis Hamilton) in Thursday practice, with George Russell topping the sheet for Mercedes. Team-mate Kimi Antonelli leads the drivers’ standings by 81 points.

Motor Sport’s Mark Hughes has argued Leclerc could still win from the back, citing the circuit’s overtaking potential.

Qualifying runs today at 4pm local time in Baku. The race starts on Saturday, moved forward by 24 hours from the traditional Sunday slot to avoid a clash with Azerbaijan’s Remembrance Day on 27 September.

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