Ferrari will soon be introducing a Performance Discovery upgrade to the SF-23. But for now, after a frustrating start to the season, the setup tweaks alone give the team another notable step forward in Australia and this weekend in Azerbaijan. As evidence, principal Charles Leclerc claimed two pole positions in Baku on Friday and Saturday using a modified sprint race format.

However, the Monaco was knocked out of the top spot after less than half the distance in Saturday’s shortened race. Sergio Perez added to his success on the street circuit by racing to victory with the help of DRS. Leclerc made the Mexican run easier, opting not to fight Red Bull before drifting close to the 5s, with the checkered flag highlighting a clear weakness during the race.

How Leclerc got two poles in one weekend

Unsurprisingly, Leclerc’s two pole laps were very similar. The Ferrari started to trail the Red Bull entering Turn 1 at over 205 mph. Max Verstappen (Friday) and then Sergio Perez (Saturday) reach the first corner ahead. But Leclerc was able to fight back with explosive acceleration heading into Turn 2, even if he couldn’t match any of the RB19s in terms of top speed.

Again the SF-23’s acceleration prevailed for the rest of the opening section to ensure that there was little to separate the trio from corners 3 to 7. Then, even though Red Bull is king of the narrow citadel section, Leclerc, left-hander from turn 12, can go downhill to the final corner. The red car’s only flaw is its slow apex speed through the tricky outer turn 15 left.

Charles Leclerc, Ferrari SF-23

Photography: Andrew Ferraro / motorsport pictures

Then, for the longest full-throttle segment on the F1 calendar, Leclerc once again benefited from Ferrari’s acceleration. He couldn’t pull between 90mph and 195mph before the mighty Red Bulls finally hit their V-max to find the ultimate 6mph advantage.

Why Leclerc was right not to fight Perez in sprint race

The strong effort in the sprint race left Leclerc unchallenged entering Turn 1. He then directed the safety car to restart – replaced by AlphaTauri driver Yuki Tsunoda in his rear right Pirelli – to maintain control. But he quickly looked powerless against Sergio Perez when DRS was activated at the end of lap seven (17 in total). Although the DRS zone on the main straight has been shortened by 100 meters in 2023, the Red Bull driver can still lead cleanly before the braking zone enters the first corner.

Leclerc said he deliberately did not resist: “I just wanted to try to keep my tyres alive”. But even if Max Verstappen’s damaged left box following a collision with George Russell on the first lap prevented Ferrari from being relegated further, Leclerc still took the flag 4.463 seconds behind Perez.

Monaco was soon unable to stay within the DRS range of the leading Red Bull, at least gaining strong traction on the remaining straight. On the contrary, from lap 12 onwards, Leclerc’s time continued to deteriorate with each lap, from 1:43.646 to 1:45.515, and Perez barely started from the high of 1:43.

With no pit stops for the race, Ferrari’s medium tires started to wear out at a faster rate. The mid-section advantage shown by the SF-23 in qualifying was largely lost as it was Perez’s turn to conquer the track from turns 13 to 15. Leclerc also suffered a noticeable dip in the final corner as Perez made a critical and long run towards the flag. It’s possible to lean on the rubber to hit the gas faster to counteract the acceleration imbalance.

Insight: How a hot and breezy Sunday afternoon ended Ferrari’s Baku F1 hopes

The revised format of the sprint weekend means there is little valuable long-term data that teams can use to predict tire wear. But the exceptionally abrasive asphalt in Bahrain in 2023, which first exposed Ferrari’s poor management of rubber, maintained the lead again and left the Ferrari team vulnerable.