Ferrari cannot make a bigger fool of itself this Sunday if it wants to be taken seriously in the fight for the crown. After losing the last four races against Red Bull, and starring in a blooper at the recent Monaco with Charles Leclerc, the Italian team knows that this race can be a turning point. The challenge seems simple, but there are the Red Bulls that have been charging at them without mercy, winning 5 out of the 7 races so far this year. They triumphed over Sainz at home and over Leclerc in his principality. Their rivals opened their champagnes at their own homes and played their anthems in front of their own fans. The consequences? Max Verstappen leading in drivers, Red Bull leading in teams by 36 points, and the impression that Ferrari, although they have a car, does not have the capacity to accompany ambition with arguments that go beyond tradition, mystique, and lineage.
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A year ago, on this same track, Checo Pérez won the race and Verstappen set the lap record in the history of the circuit. And while Leclerc took the pole, it is impossible for everyone not to look at each other in the pitlane without remembering how last year in this same Baku he also started as the pace setter but finished fourth. The result would not be strange considering that, until yesterday, so far this year, Leclerc, despite achieving 5 poles, has only won in 2 races. So it seems that, for Red Bull, giving Leclerc the pole is more about superstition than strategy.
Next to Leclerc will be Checo Pérez, who is having the best season of his career. With a newly renewed contract until 2024, the Mexican driver comes with unleashed momentum after the victory in Monaco and the demonstration in Spain where he had to give up the lead of the race to Verstappen following an order from his team. It seems that what happened in Catalonia has marked a turning point in Checo's ambitions and in his team's assessment, who knows that today, in Baku, their main card to win the race is him.
"There is no clause in my contract that says I am the team's second driver," Pérez said a few days ago regarding the details of his new bond, wanting to make it clear that he has the door open to fight for the championship. That reality is vital today on a circuit he knows, where he has won, and where he has shown all weekend that he has been the fastest bull. 6 points behind Leclerc in the championship, it is unlikely that Red Bull will execute a similar action to what happened in Catalonia with Checo today. Faced with this reality, today could be the day that Pérez sheds the role of wingman and starts to fight Verstappen for the championship on equal terms. The asphalt river of Baku will tell us.