Lewis Hamilton came home to finish eighth at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix in another disappointing weekend. However, according to Ferrari’s team orders, he should not have finished there.
The seven-time champion’s wait for his first podium with Ferrari continues after the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. But after a torrid first half of the season, he has appeared much more confident with his car.
Karun Chandhok has heard that Ferrari have improved Hamilton’s feeling with the brakes. The 40-year-old has been complaining about the SF-25 and the team’s operation throughout this season.
But it appeared that the Maranello outfit had made a breakthrough as Hamilton topped FP2 in Baku. Ferrari hoped to execute a strong qualifying after displaying encouraging pace in practice.
However, it did not translate to performance on Saturday, as Hamilton failed to get out of Q2 for the fifth time this season, while teammate Charles Leclerc crashed out in Q3. Things did not get much better in the race as Ferrari came home with six points.
Lewis Hamilton ‘misjudged’ his planned position swap with Charles Leclerc at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix
Hamilton did well to climb up from 12th to P8 and looked to have the performance to match his teammate. Leclerc was instructed to let the Brit pass to allow him to chase down the pace.
The seven-time champion came close to Lando Norris, who was hunting down Liam Lawson and Yuki Tsunoda. But Baku’s twisty and narrow nature, combined with the dirty air thwarted his efforts to make further progress.
On the final lap, race engineer Riccardo Adami told Hamilton to give the place back to Leclerc. However, this instruction seemed to be ignored as the Brit crossed the line in P8. Journalist Adam Cooper asked Hamilton about the incident in the media pen after the race.
He said: Just asked @LewisHamilton about the last lap @ScuderiaFerrari place swap, said he simply misjudged it, and it won’t happen again.”
Teammate Leclerc said he is ‘not too bothered’ about the ordeal, as finishing eighth or ninth has very little effect on his championship.
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Lewis Hamilton felt he had the ‘strongest package’ at Ferrari ahead of the Azerbaijan GP
Since the summer break, Hamilton has appeared more upbeat in interviews about his situation at Ferrari. Before the Azerbaijan GP, he had stated that he had the ‘strongest package’ of the season.
He said: “We need to be moving forwards, we’re out of place. It was the strongest package we’ve had this year. This is an amazing circuit for overtaking.”
Hamilton was able to move forward in the race, but he will certainly not be satisfied with four points. Oscar Piastri’s first-lap crash meant Ferrari denied McLaren the constructors’ title in Baku, but they are now more vulnerable to Mercedes in the standings.
Hamilton pleaded for help over the radio as he struggled with the rear tyres in qualifying. Those issues continued in the race, giving the team a desperate problem to fix.