Charles Leclerc has confirmed exactly which power unit sat behind him in Baku, and he did it live on Sky Italy rather than through any official Ferrari statement. As of 5 October 2026, this is the clearest word yet on the Ferrari engine spec Leclerc ran during the Azerbaijan Grand Prix weekend.
His admission slipped out moments after he crossed the line in fourth place, catching his own press officer off guard. He then used the same interview to explain why Ferrari keep losing ground to their closest rivals, and what the team needs to do about it.
The engine spec Leclerc revealed
Leclerc had Ferrari’s newest specification power unit fitted to his car in Baku. He named it himself, without being prompted, when a reporter asked him directly about his engine.
“I had the latest specification,” he said. The comment identified the unit as Ferrari’s ADUO 2 power unit, the same specification that had been linked to his car in the original report last month.
Leclerc noticed his press officer’s reaction the moment the words left his mouth. He turned to her and said, “I don’t know if I’m saying something I shouldn’t. But I thought you knew.”
What Leclerc said about Ferrari’s pace
Leclerc didn’t stop at the engine. He went on to explain how far Ferrari sit behind their main competitors this season.
“We were quite far off Mercedes, far off Red Bull, a bit behind McLaren – these are our competitors and it’s not new,” he said.
He made clear the gap isn’t a one-off. “It’s [been] quite a few races now that we’re losing a little bit of track to them, so it’s important that we react to that and that we bring upgrades in order to close the gap again,” he said. There’s no hiding from that assessment, and Leclerc chose his own words to deliver it.
What happens next
The Ferrari engine spec is out in the open now, and so is the gap Leclerc says it needs to close. He’s set the terms himself: upgrades have to arrive, and they have to work.
We won’t know the scale of Ferrari’s response until the next package lands, but Leclerc’s words leave little room for doubt about what the team needs to find.
Elsewhere on the grid this week, there’s been plenty to watch too, from the Bahrain GP win and a Bahrain GP red-flagged session to a Verstappen software glitch and the Russell story doing the rounds in the paddock.
