Ferrari's got some breathing room now. After McLaren's complete blank at Baku, the gap between the two teams in the constructors' championship just jumped from 52 points to 72. That's massive for how Ferrari plans to handle Lewis Hamilton's upcoming engine penalty. Charles Leclerc finished fourth and Hamilton sixth on Sunday, meaning Ferrari banked 20 points while McLaren went home empty-handed after Lando Norris got taken out at Turn 1 and Oscar Piastri locked up on the safety car restart.

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Here's why this matters so much. Before Baku, Ferrari was planning to take Hamilton's engine penalty at Mexico City or Interlagos, slots where he'd start from the back with a fresh fifth power unit. The problem was that 52-point gap gave them almost no margin for error. If Hamilton had a nightmare weekend and failed to score, McLaren could've closed in dangerously. Now with 72 points between them, that's a completely different story. One bad day doesn't crater the whole strategy anymore.

The drivers' standings improved for Ferrari too. Hamilton had only a five-point cushion over Norris before Baku, but his sixth place finish took him to 199 points while Norris stayed stuck on 186. That 13-point gap is crucial because a back-of-grid start is exactly the kind of race weekend where Norris could've mounted a comeback and potentially stolen some momentum. With Charles Leclerc sitting fifth on 179 points, Ferrari's got real separation now across both championships.

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Don't get it twisted though, this isn't a done deal. Eight rounds remain with 344 points still available in the constructors' fight and 200 in the drivers' championship. Red Bull showed they're still hungry too, with Max Verstappen second and Isack Hadjar third at Baku, chipping away at McLaren's third-place advantage. But Ferrari heads to the Bahrain Grand Prix, which has relocated to Sepang, with genuine room to make decisions about when those penalties come without panicking.

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The one lingering question is Charles Leclerc's engine situation. Fred Vasseur mentioned before the weekend that Baku should've been a good opportunity for Leclerc to take a penalty, but he started on the front row and drove to fourth. Reports suggest both Ferrari drivers might need fresh units before season's end, but the team's keeping quiet on timing. With that 72-point buffer, they've got options now.

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