Lewis Hamilton ‘shocked’ by Q2 exit in Baku: “I thought I was shooting for pole position”. Lewis Hamilton expressed disappointment after being eliminated in Azerbaijan GP qualifying.

Lewis Hamilton frustrated after Azerbaijan GP qualifying exit

Lewis Hamilton was left bitterly disappointed after failing to reach Q3 in qualifying for the Formula 1 Azerbaijan Grand Prix in Baku. The Ferrari driver had shown strong pace throughout free practice, raising hopes of a fight for pole position, but strategy decisions and tyre management left him only 12th on the grid for Sunday’s race.

Speaking to Sky Sports F1 after the session, the British driver admitted he was shocked by how qualifying unfolded: I’m obviously so disappointed. Yesterday the car was feeling good, today there was a direction that we ended up going, which on paper looked like it was the best place for us to be, and ultimately it…

The seven-time Formula 1 world champion explained that the issue was not his pace or driving, but rather the tyre situation that left him exposed: Our pace had been good. We’d been progressing, I was feeling really on it, didn’t make any mistakes, didn’t see me down any exit roads. It was just that we didn’t have the right tyre on at the end.

Lewis Hamilton pointed out the disadvantage compared to rivals: It’s tough. Everyone ahead of me basically had the medium tyre on, but I lost a medium tyre in P2 due to run-plan schedule, and that put me on the back foot.

Asked if he could have done a quick pit stop to switch tyres like teammate Charles Leclerc, Lewis Hamilton confirmed it was discussed but ultimately dismissed: Yeah, but the choice wasn’t taken to take it. I wanted to but they said that the warm-up was too long or something like that, so then we run out of time and run out of fuel. Not great, but we’ll take it internal.

Despite the setback, the Briton stressed there were still positives to take away from Ferrari’s performance across the weekend: As I said, there’s been lots of positives from this weekend. I’ve really felt on it. I honestly thought I was going to be shooting for pole today, so it’s kind of a bit of a shock. I’ll take it on the chin and keep trying.

For Ferrari, qualifying in Baku proved frustrating, with Charles Leclerc crashing out in Q3 and Lewis Hamilton falling in Q2. However, both drivers believe the car has competitive pace for the race, leaving hope for recovery on Sunday.