No engine problem for Leclerc in Baku, just forgetfulness

Charles Leclerc revealed that his loss of engine power on Friday in Baku was caused by his memory, not a problem.

Leclerc may have topped the second practice session ahead of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, but in the closing stages of that session, there was a great deal of concern from his side.

The Monegasque driver took to team radio to report a loss of power to the Ferrari crew, concerning considering the failure which they had in Barcelona, costing Leclerc the lead and most likely the victory as well.

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Ferrari were confident nonetheless in Baku that the power unit was fine, and as it turned out, it was.

Rather than a gremlin creeping in, Leclerc explained that he had altered a setting and then forgot to reverse it, which had resulted in that loss of power.

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“Actually it was no power unit problems,” he told reporters after FP2.

“It’s just me that forgot that I had changed something, which obviously made me lose power. But yes, nothing weird.”

Plenty of drivers were taking to the run-off during practice in Baku, triggering a plethora of yellow flags and wrecked push laps.

As such, Leclerc felt like no driver, himself included, was able to deliver a truly representative FP2 time on the soft tyre.

But the positives for Ferrari’s sessions, according to Leclerc, was that tyre degradation and race pace looked strong.

“We’ve had a hard Friday because overall I think we’ve improved quite a