Lewis Hamilton claims glaring Ferrari error after Baku Q2 exit

While Lewis Hamilton remains upbeat at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, dropping out in the Q2 stage of qualifying was an unwelcomed setback.

Having expected to challenge for a grid slot at the sharp end of the field, Hamilton instead missed out on the pole position shootout. He believes a major error was made when Ferrari tried to make Q3 on soft tyres, which they regarded as the slower compound.

Lewis Hamilton rues Ferrari Baku GP tyre error

Hamilton had ended Friday practice in P1, but P12 on the grid was the best he could manage come qualifying.

The soft versus medium tyre strategy proved an interesting subplot in a chaotic qualifying. With six red flags, a new record was set for an F1 qualifying session.

Ferrari chased a Q3 spot for Hamilton with soft tyres, but he would fail to make the cut.

“The medium tyre was just much quicker,” said Hamilton after qualifying.

“The team chose to run me on the medium in Q2, and Charles was meant to run it second run in Q2, but then, because everyone else wasn’t out on them, [we] opted to keep it, and then all the top 10 basically had three mediums.

“We knew that the medium was quicker by, they said it was about three-tenths or something like that, and it felt great, and we should have run it in Q2.”

Key post-qualifying talking points from Baku

👉 Oscar Piastri crashes out of Azerbaijan qualifying to dent championship hopes

👉 Fernando Alonso drops massive F1 retirement hint

Asked if the gusty winds around the Baku City Circuit were a contributing factor to his unsuccessful final lap, Hamilton replied: “No, no… No.

“One of the things that kind of factored into it was a bit of direction the team were pushing for us to go with some of the setup, that didn’t feel as good as [F]P2.

“But I felt like we made a lot of progress, and we were looking really strong. I think we didn’t make any mistakes. It’s just then, because I was on the back foot with only two mediums, with thinking of having two mediums in Q3, when you’ve got to get to Q3 first.

“So ultimately, just not the best execution. So definitely disappointed. But, lots of positives to take.”

Hamilton remains “optimistic” for the Grand Prix, and has set his sights on getting “into the top three”.

Leclerc meanwhile starts from P10 only after hitting the wall in Q3.

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