Lewis Hamilton attributed his P6 finish at the 2026 F1 Azerbaijan GP to persistent tyre struggles, admitting he never “really got the tyres to switch on.”
The Ferrari driver kicked off the Baku weekend with P4 in FP1 and P5 in FP3 before making changes to his SF-26 and improving to P3 in FP3. However, his struggles returned in Qualifying as he was unable to get a tow on the long final straight, while continuing to fight his tyres. He ultimately settled for P6, with teammate Charles Leclerc taking P2, almost half a second quicker.
Hamilton carried those challenges into Saturday’s race, spending much of the afternoon unable to find consistent pace on his Pirelli tyres.
“It is what it is”: Hamilton on his Azerbaijan GP struggles
Reflecting on his 2026 F1 Azerbaijan GP race in the print media pen, Hamilton briefly began: “Yeah, I was in no man’s land most of the time.”
The seven-time World Champion began his race on soft tyres, initially losing P6 to Max Verstappen before regaining it on Lap 17 after an entertaining battle with Lando Norris. His first stint ended on Lap 32 with a Safety Car intervention, allowing him to pit for a set of mediums and rejoin in P6. Despite briefly moving up to P5, Hamilton couldn’t keep Kimi Antonelli at bay in the closing stages, finishing P6 at the chequered flag.
Asked how difficult it was to know he was unable to do much as the cars behind closed in, Hamilton continued: “It’s not great, but it is what it is.”
Ferrari caught between rivals
With Mercedes’ George Russell taking victory and Red Bull completing the podium, Ferrari found itself behind both teams, while Antonelli finished ahead of Hamilton in P5, with Leclerc taking P4. Meanwhile, McLaren was unable to challenge the leading teams, with Norris retiring and Oscar Piastri dropping to P13 after a mistake.
Despite Ferrari finishing ahead of McLaren, Hamilton remained hesitant to define the team’s exact position in the current pecking order.
“What’s the importance of that? Why would I agree with it? I mean, I don’t know where we are. Whether we’re third or second, I don’t know. We’re obviously not the second quickest at the moment. But we’re ahead of the McLaren’s today, so maybe we’re the third.”
Beyond the race results, Ferrari leaves Baku second in the Teams’ Standings, sitting 160 points behind Mercedes and 71 points clear of McLaren.
Hamilton unable to unlock tyres
Further discussing his race struggles, the Brit explained that his lack of pace was due to both Ferrari’s straight-line performance and its difficulties in getting the tyres to work.
“No, for me all weekend it was switching the tyres on. Just all weekend, I don’t think I ever really got the tyres to switch on. And I can’t quite grasp why that is the case with our car. We made some changes to try and get it working. It was a bit better in P3 and then into qualifying was a real struggle to switch them on. I think many people had it, but others seemed to struggle less.
“And then in the race it was that, just the whole race,” he said. “I think at the end of the first stint I had the tyres all of a sudden switched on and I had ok pace. But then we got into the medium tyre and they just wouldn’t work the whole time. And then just deployment. These guys just seemed to just power, power, power everywhere. Which is, it’s pretty crazy to see you having to block into places that you would not normally have to, like turn 2 or turn 4 or 5.”
Late-race chaos
When asked whether Red Bull’s pace had surprised him, with Verstappen taking P2 and Isack Hadjar claiming P3, Hamilton shared:
“I mean, I don’t really think about anybody else. Was it unexpected for you?”
Notably, before the podium was decided, the field endured back-to-back Safety Car periods, with the second coming after a multi-car incident at Turn 1. Russell took his time bringing the grid back to speed on the main straight for the second restart, but Hamilton saw no issue with his former teammate’s approach:
“It felt fine for me. He did what I would have done.”
