Hamilton Admits Misjudgement with Leclerc in Baku Grand Prix

Lewis Hamilton left frustrated after disappointing Azerbaijan Grand Prix

Lewis Hamilton couldn’t hide his disappointment after finishing eighth in Azerbaijan, a race that highlighted both Ferrari’s struggles and some questionable team decisions.

“A bit disappointing result at the end of the day,” Hamilton admitted. “I did go forward. My pace was generally good. I was flat out, I was definitely much happier in the car.”

The seven-time world champion pointed to qualifying as the main culprit behind his underwhelming performance.

Poor starting position left him stuck in traffic throughout much of the race, forcing him to fight for minor points rather than podium positions.

“It was difficult today to close up on what cars are headed very fast. Clearly, qualifying is very important, and we missed out on that,” he explained.

Hamilton tried stretching his stint longer than competitors, hoping for some luck with the timing.

“I was going long, and I hoped there would be some sort of safety car, and there was nothing. Unfortunately, this happened a lot this year.”

The lack of on-track incidents meant drivers remained bunched together in what racers call a “DRS train” – making passing nearly impossible even with speed advantages.

“We were just not seeing any incidents, and everyone’s in that DRS train for a passing time.”

Hamilton believes Ferrari missed opportunities to maximize their weekend performance.

“I think our setup choice at the end, procedure with execution, in qualifying was not great, which put us in that position to be fighting for eighth and ninth is not what we would think.”

With better execution, he feels Ferrari could have been fighting much higher up the order.

“If we had optimized the weekend, I think we would have been slightly up, maybe fourth and fifth.”

## Team Orders Drama

The final laps brought controversy when Hamilton appeared to ignore team orders to swap positions with teammate Charles Leclerc before the finish line.

When asked about the situation, Hamilton explained: “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.”

Despite knowing his chances were slim, Hamilton remained focused on catching the car ahead rather than orchestrating a position swap.

“Even though there was like 0.001 chance of passing, I was still hopeful and I did lift on the straight and did actually break but we missed it by like four tenths.”

Hamilton admitted the situation wasn’t handled perfectly.

“That was just much tougher for myself so I was going to ask Charles at the end of the day.”

The incident adds another chapter to what’s been a challenging transition season for Hamilton at Ferrari, where team dynamics continue to evolve between the British champion and his Monégasque teammate.