F1 LIVE: Ferrari mistakes are costing Charles Leclerc the world championship, warns Martin Brundle

Charles Leclerc after a costly retirement: “It hurts. We really need to look into that for it not to happen again. I can’t really find the right words to describe what has happened. It is just very, very disappointing.

“We were fast and didn’t have big problems in the first part of the season. But now it seems we have more problems even if we haven’t made massive changes to the car. It is difficult to understand.”

Sebastian Vettel has proposed Formula One scraps budget and salary caps and instead implements a profit cap on each team, which once exceeded would generate money for good causes.

The biggest teams on the grid – Red Bull, Mercedes and Ferrari – have called for F1’s budget cap to be raised at a time when the cost of travel is rising significantly and squeezing their costs, while the smaller teams have urged the cap, which is meant to help level the playing field, to be retained.

There has also been debate around introducing a salary cap for drivers, but Vettel, who campaigns for environmental causes, believes that the system should be shaped so that F1 can “do great things” with the money the sport generates.

Max Verstappen extended his F1 Drivers’ Championship lead by racing to a convincing victory at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

Sergio Perez took second to complete a commanding one-two finish for Red Bull after both Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz failed to make it to the chequered flag with mechanical gremlins on a desperate afternoon for Ferrari in Baku.

Verstappen’s title advantage over Leclerc has increased from nine points to 34 following what could prove a pivotal race in this season’s championship battle.

Lewis Hamilton could be forced to miss next weekend’s Canadian Grand Prix with back pain which left the British driver “praying” for Sunday’s race in Azerbaijan to end.

Hamilton’s Mercedes boss Toto Wolff made the alarming admission about his superstar driver moments after Sunday’s contest on the streets of Baku which was won by Red Bull’s Max Verstappen.

“Yes, definitely, ” said Wolff, when asked if there is a danger Hamilton, 37, will not be able to compete in Montreal.

“He is really bad. You can see this is not muscular anymore. It goes properly into the spine and it can have some consequences.

“The solution could be to have someone on reserve, which we anyway have at every race.”

A wounded Charles Leclerc has demanded Ferrari eliminate their reliability woes to prevent this season’s Formula One battle from becoming a one-horse race.

Max Verstappen extended his championship lead by driving unopposed to victory at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix after Leclerc and team-mate Carlos Sainz failed to finish on a desperate afternoon for Ferrari in Baku.

Leclerc was bidding to avenge Ferrari’s flat-footed strategy in Monaco a fortnight ago which cost him victory at his home event.

But on lap 20 of 51, Leclerc’s engine expired and he retired from the lead. A power unit failure at Barcelona’s Circuit de Catalunya last month means the Monegasque has now failed to finish in two of his last three appearances.

Max Verstappen spared no sympathy for Charles Leclerc after the Dutchman took advantage of a race-ending engine failure for his Ferrari Formula One rival to cruise to an unchallenged win in Azerbaijan on Sunday.

“I would say sh*t happens, that’s racing, you know?” Verstappen, who experienced the heartbreak of crashing out of the lead in Baku last year, told reporters.

“It happened to me, it happened to many people in the past and unfortunately it’s happening to Charles.

“If I would be in the same situation, I would also be disappointed, I think that’s very normal, but it’s about how you come out of it.”

Red Bull have extended their lead over Ferrari with a perfect weekend in Azerbaijan, as Verstappen and Perez collected a one-two and Ferrari recorded a double retirement. The gap between the two teams is now 80 points, and Red Bull are putting themselves in an excellent position to finally win the manufacturers’ prize after so much Mercedes domination.

1. Red Bull Racing, 279. 2. Ferrari, 199. 3. Mercedes, 161. 4. McLaren, 65. 5. Alpine, 47. 6. Alfa Romeo Racing, 41. 7. Alphatauri, 27. 8. Haas F1 Team, 15. 9. Aston Martin, 15. 10. Williams, 3.

Max Verstappen has extended his lead at the top of the drivers’ championship, and right now his closest rival is his teammate Sergio Perez. That will change, you suspect, if Ferrari can get on top of their reliability issues because clearly Charles Leclerc has the pace in qualifying, but with only a few days until the Canadian Grand Prix gets under way, Ferrari do not have much time to get their car right. 1. Max Verstappen, Netherlands, Red Bull Racing, 150 points.

2. Sergio Perez, Mexico, Red Bull Racing, 129.

3. Charles Leclerc, Monaco, Ferrari, 116.

4. George Russell, Great Britain, Mercedes, 99.

5. Carlos Sainz Jr, Spain, Ferrari, 83.

6. Lewis Hamilton, Great Britain, Mercedes, 62.

7. Lando Norris, Great Britain, McLaren, 50.

8. Valtteri Bottas, Finland, Alfa Romeo Racing, 40.

9. Esteban Ocon, France, Alpine, 31.

10. Pierre Gasly, France, Alphatauri, 16.

11. Fernando Alonso, Spain, Alpine, 16.

12. Kevin Magnussen, Denmark, Haas F1 Team, 15.

13. Daniel Ricciardo, Australia, McLaren, 15.

14. Sebastian Vettel, Germany, Aston Martin, 13.

15. Yuki Tsunoda, Japan, Alphatauri, 11.

16. Alexander Albon, Thailand, Williams, 3.

17. Lance Stroll, Canada, Aston Martin, 2.

18. Guanyu Zhou, China, Alfa Romeo Racing, 1.

Toyota won the 24 Hours of Le Mans for the fifth year in a row on Sunday with New Zealand’s Brendon Hartley taking the chequered flag to become a triple champion.

Swiss driver Sebastien Buemi, now a four-times winner of the world’s greatest endurance race, and Japanese first timer Ryo Hirakawa shared the overall victory in the number eight GR010 hybrid hypercar.

The number seven Toyota, crewed by last year’s winners Mike Conway of Britain, Japan’s Kamui Kobayashi and Argentina’s Jose Maria Lopez, secured the predictable one-two finish at the Sarthe circuit.

Glickenhaus Racing’s number 709 car completed the podium with Britain’s Richard Westbrook, French driver Franck Mailleux and American Ryan Briscoe but they were in a different league to Toyota who had no real rivals.

Hartley won Le Mans in 2017 with Porsche and in 2020 with Toyota when he took the place of Spain’s two times Formula One world champion and double Le Mans winner Fernando Alonso.

Buemi has taken all four of his wins with the Japanese manufacturer.

“Unless I change cars I’ll never catch him,” joked the Kiwi, who secured pole position on Thursday.

Toyota were the only major manufacturer in a field of just five hypercars, a situation that will change next year when Peugeot, Ferrari, Porsche and Cadillac step up and provide more competition.

Le Mans has a habit of biting back and choosing its winner, however, and reliability can never be taken for granted as the number seven crew discovered.

The two Toyotas had swapped the lead and were separated by only a few seconds for much of the first 16 hours until technical problems struck.

Lopez slowed at Arnage on lap 256 with the motor generator unit requiring a reset by the side of the track before he could return to the pits for a stop of more than three minutes in what turned out to be the defining moment of the race.

The Argentine then suffered a slow puncture, losing more time.

The number 38 Jota LMP2 car shared by Portugal’s Antonio Felix da Costa, Britain’s Will Stevens and Mexican Roberto Gonzalez were winners in the second tier.

The race, founded in 1923 and now in its 90th edition, started in sunny conditions and with the 62-strong field cheered on by a crowd of 244,200 freed from recent COVID-19 restrictions.

The drivers include 16-year-old American Josh Pierson, who became both the youngest ever competitor and finisher -- 10th overall -- with United Autosports in the second tier LMP2 category.

German-Irish Hollywood actor Michael Fassbender was also at the wheel of a Porsche 911 and had an eventful race that kept his mechanics busy.

The entire field was using a 100% renewable fuel for the first time.

Lewis Hamilton could be forced to miss next weekend’s Canadian Grand Prix with back pain which left the British driver “praying” for Sunday’s race in Azerbaijan to end.

Hamilton’s Mercedes boss Toto Wolff made the alarming admission about his superstar driver moments after Sunday’s contest on the streets of Baku which was won by Red Bull’s Max Verstappen.

“Yes, definitely, ” said Wolff, when asked if there is a danger Hamilton, 37, will not be able to compete in Montreal.

“He is really bad. You can see this is not muscular anymore. It goes properly into the spine and it can have some consequences.

“The solution could be to have someone on reserve, which we anyway have at every race.”