Ferrari team principal Frederic Vasseur has dealt fans of the Italians a huge blow, after revealing that the Maranello-based team will not be taking any upgrades to this weekend’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
Formula 1’s four-week break comes to an end this weekend at the Baku City Circuit, a track which Red Bull are expected to dominate at.
The Scuderia have bad recent memories of Azerbaijan, with Charles Leclerc having retired whilst leading the race last season, following a dramatic engine failure down the start/finish straight.
Ferrari will be praying to get through this weekend without an engine failure, given that Leclerc already suffered one at the season-opener in Bahrain.
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Given that no upgrades will be taken to Baku, the likelihood is that Ferrari could be in for a challenging weekend, perhaps as the fourth quickest team once again.
However, Vasseur has assured that a “flow of updates” will take place after Baku, with developments planned for several consecutive races, starting from Miami.
Ferrari’s updates in Europe are expected to be big but not to the extent where the side will introduce a “B-car”, something the team boss has ruled out.
Unlike Mercedes, Ferrari aren’t planning on introducing a new concept, with the team believing that the one they’ve currently got has potential.
Ferrari’s aim is to “update massively” the SF-23 in the coming races, in a bid to at least return to second in the pecking order.
“I think that we will have a flow of updates that some will come,” Vasseur said, as reported by GPFans.
“Not at Baku, because Baku we have the aero package for the level of downforce, [and] with the Sprint race it’s not the easiest one.
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“But from Miami, Imola, not Monaco, but Barcelona – each race will have an update on the car.
“We are sticking to the plan, but we’ve made some adjustments, I think, in terms of balance and behaviour. It [the car] was much better in Melbourne and we’ll continue in this direction.
“I don’t know if you can speak about…it’s not a B-car, if it’s what you want to say. We won’t come with something completely different; we’ll continue to update this one and we’ll try to update massively.”