Lewis Hamilton to issue Charles Leclerc apology after Baku ‘misjudgement’

Lewis Hamilton has stated he will issue an apology to team-mate
Charles Leclerc after failing to let him by for position on the
final lap. In the closing stages of the race, Leclerc pulled over
to let Hamilton through for position as the seven-time champion was
equipped with fresher, softer tyres. Hamilton closed up to the back
of a DRS train being led by Liam Lawson in fifth, with Yuki
Tsunoda, Lando Norris and Hamilton all following suit. None of the
pack could complete an overtake on the cars ahead, however Hamilton
tried until the very end to pull off a move on Norris. Having
backed off too late, Hamilton reached the finish line before
Leclerc could move back ahead of him. Explaining the situation from
his perspective, Hamilton told media including RacingNews365 :
“Obviously I was quicker but Charles was gracious to let me by. “At
the end, I got the message really late on and I was zoned in on the
car in front of me. “Even though there was like, 0.001 per cent
chance of passing, I was still hopeful. “I did lift on the straight
and did actually brake, but missed it by like four-tenths. That was
just a misjudgement from myself. “I’ll apologise to Charles, but at
the end of the day, it’s eighth and ninth. But it won’t happen
again.” Leclerc played down the significance of the situation,
insisting the lower reaches of the points is far from Ferrari's
desired position. “For P8 or P9, it's not going to be a big talking
point,” he said. “I don't really mind.  “Obviously, these are
things we agree between us and the general rules of how we want to
work whenever there's a swap. “It didn't happen, and that's okay.
It's not like I would have been a lot happier being P8.”