Lewis Hamilton has urged Ferrari to improve operationally following
the bitter disappointment of his Azerbaijan Grand Prix weekend.
Following Friday practice and topping a session for the first time
this season since his move to the Scuderia, Hamilton went into
qualifying believing he had a genuine shot at pole position. The
seven-time F1 champion, however, failed to even escape Q2 due to a
mix-up over the tyres, leaving him a miserable 12th on the grid,
two places behind team-mate Charles Leclerc after the Monégasque
crashed early in Q3. By the chequered flag, due to lengthy periods
being stuck in DRS trains, Hamilton was eighth, a place ahead of
Leclerc after failing to hand back a position graciously given to
him in a bid to close down Liam Lawson, Yuki Tsunoda and Lando
Norris, to no avail. Hamilton described himself as "not good" after
the race when asked how he was feeling. As to why, speaking to Sky
Sports F1, he said: "A disappointing result. I was feeling so
optimistic through practice. After P2, I honestly felt so good in
the car, but we then took the wrong direction. "Ultimately, our
pace in the race was just not on par with the guys ahead of us, but
qualifying was clearly so important if you look at where the
Williams [of Carlos Sainz] was [in second]. They did a great job.
Congratulations to them. What an amazing result. "I'm happy I moved
forward from 12th, but I don't really care less about the
position." The overriding concern for Hamilton was the fact that he
and Leclerc were on the wrong tyres at the wrong time in Q2, even
if the latter did escape, but a move which heavily compromised the
British driver. "Internally, we'll go and have a look and see what
we could have done differently," said Hamilton. "Operationally, we
could have done a better job, and so that's something we need to
work on. "I felt like I made progress. Out of our cars, my pace was
decent, but the others were just rapid, and it was so hard to
overtake. "It was an unusual Baku race, with not much overtaking,
and it was really hard to follow, so definitely disappointed to
come away with nothing."
the bitter disappointment of his Azerbaijan Grand Prix weekend.
Following Friday practice and topping a session for the first time
this season since his move to the Scuderia, Hamilton went into
qualifying believing he had a genuine shot at pole position. The
seven-time F1 champion, however, failed to even escape Q2 due to a
mix-up over the tyres, leaving him a miserable 12th on the grid,
two places behind team-mate Charles Leclerc after the Monégasque
crashed early in Q3. By the chequered flag, due to lengthy periods
being stuck in DRS trains, Hamilton was eighth, a place ahead of
Leclerc after failing to hand back a position graciously given to
him in a bid to close down Liam Lawson, Yuki Tsunoda and Lando
Norris, to no avail. Hamilton described himself as "not good" after
the race when asked how he was feeling. As to why, speaking to Sky
Sports F1, he said: "A disappointing result. I was feeling so
optimistic through practice. After P2, I honestly felt so good in
the car, but we then took the wrong direction. "Ultimately, our
pace in the race was just not on par with the guys ahead of us, but
qualifying was clearly so important if you look at where the
Williams [of Carlos Sainz] was [in second]. They did a great job.
Congratulations to them. What an amazing result. "I'm happy I moved
forward from 12th, but I don't really care less about the
position." The overriding concern for Hamilton was the fact that he
and Leclerc were on the wrong tyres at the wrong time in Q2, even
if the latter did escape, but a move which heavily compromised the
British driver. "Internally, we'll go and have a look and see what
we could have done differently," said Hamilton. "Operationally, we
could have done a better job, and so that's something we need to
work on. "I felt like I made progress. Out of our cars, my pace was
decent, but the others were just rapid, and it was so hard to
overtake. "It was an unusual Baku race, with not much overtaking,
and it was really hard to follow, so definitely disappointed to
come away with nothing."
The post Lewis Hamilton makes Ferrari 'operational' vow after bitter Baku blow appeared first on RacingNews365.