Azerbaijan Grand Prix 2026 Media Day: Leclerc Keeps Ferrari Engine Call Secret, Russell Waits for Mercedes Upgrade

Engine calls hung over the Azerbaijan Grand Prix 2026 media day in Baku. Charles Leclerc confirmed the upgraded Ferrari power unit is back in the pool, then refused to say whether he’ll use it and risk the grid penalty that comes with it. George Russell ruled out a penalty this weekend, pushing it further down the line to wait for Mercedes’ final upgrade under the FIA’s ADUO system rather than take two. Sergio Pérez gets the new Ferrari engine at Cadillac and still expects a draggy car on a track built around straights. Isack Hadjar is back from a wrist fracture with a 2027 Red Bull deal announced. Oscar Piastri returns to the circuit that gave him his best race and his worst. Alex Albon brings a mid-season Williams chassis change and says even that won’t outpace how fast the midfield is developing. Race day is Saturday, and Ferrari’s engine call could shape the grid before qualifying does.

Key Points – Azerbaijan Grand Prix 2026 Media Day

• Leclerc confirms the upgraded Ferrari power unit is back in the pool of engines, won’t reveal whether he’ll use it in Baku
• Russell rules out an engine penalty this weekend, waiting for Mercedes’ final upgrade under ADUO to avoid potentially taking two penalties
• Pérez calls Cadillac “very draggy” heading into a track full of straights, with the new Ferrari engine arriving and everything else planned for 2027
• Hadjar returns after three races out with a small wrist fracture, 2027 Red Bull contract confirmed
• Piastri says his best and worst races have both come in Baku, and feels McLaren’s extra engineering support behind him
• Albon brings a Williams chassis change and weight loss, targets the fight with Racing Bulls, Alpine and Audi

Charles Leclerc

Leclerc’s qualifying record in Baku says he should have won here by now. He hasn’t. The races have been harder, he admitted. And this year qualifying is where Ferrari struggle most, he said, with power unit optimisation swinging from one weekend to the next. On a track like this, that swing plays a big role.

Asked about starting at the back, he pointed to Antonelli winning Monza from 19th on the grid and wasn’t sure that’s realistic for Ferrari if a penalty comes. Ferrari’s dip since the summer break isn’t track specific, he said. McLaren have taken big steps and are much closer now. Mercedes remain the team to beat.

On Hamilton, he owned Monza. Turn 2 went too far on his side and he doesn’t want to see it happen again. But three of the four top teams had fights like that at Monza, cars finishing in the grass, and the only one still being talked about is the red cars. He doesn’t think that’s fair. Turn 15 is his main trap in Baku. He’s been in there two or three times and plans to stay out of it this year.

George Russell

Three podiums in his last four Baku races. Russell arrives with the speculation settled: no engine penalty this weekend. It comes later. His current unit is coming to the end of its life, he admitted, so there’s a deficit here. He called it swings and roundabouts, with every driver taking new engines at different points, and said where you take the penalty decides how much it hurts.

He’s waiting on the engine. Mercedes have one upgrade left under ADUO, the FIA’s Additional Development and Upgrade Opportunities system, and it brings an improved turbo. It now looks set for the North American triple-header starting in Austin on 23 to 25 October. Budapest already cost him a power unit and a turbo. Fit fresh parts in Baku and the upgraded turbo would mean going back into the pool again when it lands, and a second penalty. Wait, and it’s one.

He said after Madrid he no longer sees himself in this year’s title fight. He’ll keep fighting until it’s mathematically impossible, but the pressure he puts on himself is about performance, and race pace, a weakness earlier in the year, has been much better since the break.

Then tyres. Front to rear, he doesn’t think they’ve been well balanced this season, with the rears taking a harder time than anyone expected. He linked it to the extra power off the corners, and said Antonio Giovinazzi was impressed by exactly that after driving the new generation car at Imola. The tyres were developed last year with the previous power unit. Pirelli’s compound picture for this weekend is in my Azerbaijan Grand Prix 2026 tyre preview.

Sergio Pérez

Two Baku wins, the most recent in 2023. Pérez’s formula for this place starts with making it to the end. Then confidence. The wind picks up massively on race day here, he said, and it’s been a big factor the last few years he’s raced in Baku.

Madrid was a step forward. Cadillac battled the Williams and had Yuki behind them the whole race. Baku brings the new Ferrari engine, and he’s hoping for a chaotic race. No big upgrades are coming this year. Everything has been planned for next year, which he called the right decision, while admitting it means very painful final races and relying on a bit of luck for results. For now it’s about getting the race team right, so when the new car arrives they’re ready to use it.

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Isack Hadjar

The last time Hadjar touched a steering wheel was Budapest. Three races watching. He comes back with his 2027 Red Bull seat confirmed and a wrist that’s nearly six weeks healed. It was a small fracture on the outside, no surgery needed. The sim test went well. He says it’ll still be painful for a while. Good enough to drive is all he needs.

He didn’t talk contract once. His people did the talking. Asked whether it’s multi-year, he said he doesn’t know and doesn’t care. Marc Márquez spoke to him after the injury. The advice? Not to race. Liam Lawson’s three weekends in his car gave the team very good feedback on its weaknesses, he said, from a driver coming in from another car. His goal for Baku is simple: the car is competitive, he wants to be in the fight with the guys ahead. And the key to this track, for him, is trust on the brakes.

Oscar Piastri

Piastri won here in 2024. Last year was frustrating. He wants this one to look more like 2024. A rare combination, he called it: a street circuit with so many massive braking zones.

Progress isn’t linear, he said. Last weekend the car was quick eventually but very difficult to get the lap time out of. Andrea Stella has said McLaren are throwing more engineering resources behind him. Piastri said he can feel it and feels well supported, though there’s only so much you can do without jumping in the car. The things that worked for him before don’t seem to work this year, and the solution changes each time. On energy, he expects most drivers to spend it in the same place around here and doesn’t see a repeat of the top speed differences from Spa, not with three practice sessions.

Alex Albon

Williams have been carrying a weight penalty all season. They’re still running ballast this weekend. The upgrade brings a chassis change in the middle of a season, which Albon said isn’t easy, and a weight saving that guarantees lap time whatever the aero side does. Big if it works, he said. The sim says it should. The sim and the track don’t always correlate.

He reckons it would’ve been a massive upgrade in any other year, but the midfield is moving too fast for it to jump anyone. Baku suits the car anyway: good over the bumps, strong in short 90-degree corners, and this track is almost all short corners. The target is the upper midfield fight with Racing Bulls, Alpine and Audi. Williams have been quite far away from that in recent races, and he was clear it’s still a big jump to make.

Coffee Corner Take

Russell’s penalty is being timed around Mercedes’ final upgrade under ADUO, expected from Austin. So he races Baku on a unit near the end of its life, on purpose, to avoid two hits instead of one. He said it himself: where you take it decides how much it hurts. At this stage of the season, engine penalties get planned like pit stops.

Leclerc gave nothing away. The upgraded unit is available and Ferrari won’t say more. He told the room qualifying is where Ferrari struggle most this year, and Baku has always been his Saturday track. Taking a penalty here means giving up the one session he’s owned in Baku, for an engine Ferrari still won’t talk about. Antonelli won Monza from the back. Leclerc didn’t sound convinced Ferrari could do the same.

Pérez gets the new Ferrari engine and still doesn’t expect miracles. The drag hasn’t gone anywhere, and Cadillac’s season is already pointed at 2027. Every one of these calls gets tested on Baku’s enormous run to the line.