Lewis Hamilton faced a challenging F1 Azerbaijan GP in Baku, converting a P12 start into a P8 finish for Ferrari. The seven-time World Champion made early progress, moving up to P10 on the opening lap and later overtaking Isack Hadjar after the safety car restart to claim ninth.
Between laps 20 and 28, he rose further through the order as others pitted, reaching fifth before his own stop on lap 37 dropped him behind teammate Charles Leclerc. On lap 43, Ferrari opted for a swap, allowing Hamilton through so he could try and attack the cars ahead. However, he ultimately finished eighth, directly behind the McLaren of Lando Norris.
Hamilton reflects on “disappointing” result
Reflecting on the F1 Azerbaijan GP, Hamilton admitted the result fell short of expectations. “It’s definitely not where we want to be. It’s a disappointing result at the end of the day.“
Despite that, he was eager to emphasize the positives from his drive: “But I did go forward from 12th. I had a good start. I think my pace was generally good. I was flat out, I was definitely much better, much happier in the car. It was difficult today to close up on the cars ahead that were fast. Clearly, qualifying is very important and we missed out on that… But there’s lots of positives to take from it and definitely bits to draw from the weekend which I’ll try and take into the next.”
Stuck in the DRS train
Like many drivers, Lewis Hamilton found himself locked in a DRS train during the F1 Azerbaijan GP. Explaining his compromised pace in the closing laps and the call to start on hards, he said, “I was going long in the hope there would be some sort of safety car and there was nothing. That was unfortunate. It’s happening a lot this year where you’ve just not seen any incidents. Everyone’s obviously had that DRS train for quite some time.”
He added, “Also I think our set-up choice at the end wasn’t great. Obviously, our procedure and execution in qualifying was not very good to put us in that position. To be fighting for 8th and 9th is not what we want. If we had optimised it again, I think we would have been in sight for maybe 4th or 5th.”
Late call on Ferrari swap
Team orders also shaped Ferrari’s race. Hamilton revealed how late he received the message to give P8 back to Leclerc after the Monegasque had let him by before that as he had fresh mediums on.
“Obviously, I was quicker. But Charles was gracious to let me by. At the end, I got the message really late on it and I was zoned in on the car in front of me. Even though there was a 0.001% chance of passing, I was still hopeful. I did lift on the straight and did actually brake, but I missed it by four tenths. It was a misjudgement by myself, so I apologise to Charles. At the end of the day, it’s 8th and 9th. It won’t happen again.”
Areas of improvement
Lewis Hamilton also noted areas for improvement in car set-up. On the opening lap of the Azerbaijan GP, he gained a place as Oscar Piastri stalled and dropped back, before later battling Fernando Alonso and getting by. He also overtook Isack Hadjar after a few attempts as he looks to find more and more confidence under braking.
“They were okay. I think there’s still some improvement to make in terms of how aggressive I can be. The car was quite snappy, so I’m not 100% confident on the braking when I’m attacking on the brakes. In the last race, I was, but in this race, I didn’t feel so much with the set-up that we ended up having. But, as I said, progress is important.”
