Despite the drama of Monaco, Ferrari have plenty of reasons to be hopeful for further success at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix this weekend.

Alongside a podium finish for Carlos Sainz in Monaco, Charles Leclerc's car will feature a new gearbox as a precautionary measure.

This followed a bitterly disappointing experience for the 23 year old who managed to earn a pole position in his home Grand Prix, but was forced to miss the race entirely due to a left driveshaft hub failure.

While the gearbox was found to be not at fault for the crash in Monaco, Leclerc still felt that the equipment could have been a contributing factor. As a result, Ferrari have decided to play it safe by equipping the car with a new gearbox in a bid to kickstart the season.

Prior to Monaco, Ferrari had made their worst start to a Formula 1 campaign since 1980. As a result, it was looking like another hugely underwhelming season was about to unfold for the Scuderia. But with a decent result for Sainz and an impressive qualifying time for Leclerc in Monaco, there's reason to be hopeful that Ferrari can deliver the goods in Azerbaijan this weekend.

Why the Azerbaijan GP could be the turning point

The Azerbaijan Grand Prix is famous for being one of the most impressive street circuits. It features one of the longest straights on the calendar and could provide plenty more passing opportunities compared to the constrictions of the Monaco GP.

If you find some small online bookmakers on wetten.com, you'll see that many of them give you relatively short odds for Ferrari to pick up some points on the Baku City Circuit. This is because it is the kerbs of the Azerbaijan GP that could give Ferrari the edge as a result of the excellent suspension that powered the team to some impressive race times in Monaco.

The twists and turns of the Monaco circuit proved to be well-suited to the Ferrari car and it presented the best overall weekend performance for the team in the current season. As a result, hopes are high that Ferrari might again manage to negotiate the kerbs of the city circuit in Baku.

Reasons to be realistic in Baku

Although Ferrari might find an edge in negotiating the tight turns of the technical sections of the Baku City Circuit, the team will almost certainly be left in the dust of Mercedes in the long straights of the track. As a result it could prove to be a fascinating duel between Ferrari and McLaren in a battle for third place which could be an overriding theme for the season.

All of this points to the picture that Ferrari will be concentrating on next year as it aims to try and improve its engine in the coming months. As such, the team will be realistic about their chances of gaining another podium finish in Baku.

Last year saw a respectable performance from Ferrari in Azerbaijan with both Sebastian Vettel and Leclerc ending up in the top five places. But with even Ferrari's managing director predicting that the team could slip behind Woking rivals, McLaren this time around, it's clear that Sunday's race won't be massively enjoyable for the Scuderia.

As a result, we can expect a much closer race this time around, and Ferrari will need to put in a solid performance to stay ahead of the likes of Alpine, Aston Martin and AlphaTauri. Much will depend on how the team overcome their technical issues, as Sainz and Leclerc have already shown that they have the skill required to deliver big results if things go right.