Lewis Hamilton describes ‘weirdest way’ he had to drive his Mercedes during Azerbaijan Grand Prix

Follow us on Google Discover

Lewis Hamilton knew he was going to face a difficult Azerbaijan Grand Prix when Mercedes decided to sacrifice seventh on the grid to change his power unit.

Starting from the pit lane, Mercedes was hopeful that the extra power from the fresh engine would enable Lewis Hamilton to recover to the points-paying positions with ease and set about putting pressure on the top five.

It turned out to be a lot harder for the seven-time world champion, who struggled to get past Haas’ Oliver Bearman and the Williams of Franco Colapinto.

While Colapinto was elated after he realised his ‘dream come true’ by sharing the track with Hamilton, the Mercedes driver was far from impressed by his team.

It was after a late crash between Sergio Perez and Carlos Sainz that Hamilton was promoted to the top 10 positions otherwise, he would have walked away pointless.

Hamilton described the problems he faced when speaking to Formu1a.uno after the race and how he needed to drive his Mercedes W15 unconventionally to get close to rivals.

Lewis Hamilton had the ‘worst car balance ever’ during Azerbaijan GP

Hamilton complained most of the race over lack of grip, as the surface of the Pirelli rubber on both the hard and medium tyre overheated and prevented him from progressing.

At one stage he could be overheard saying to his engineer, Peter Bonnington, over team radio: “You’ve seen how I have to drive this thing!?”

His pace did pick up towards the end of the race, but when the Virtual Safety Car came out in the aftermath of Sainz and Perez’s crash and neutralised any chance of progressing further, Hamilton glumly remarked: “I’m not even going to say it, because you know what.”

Hamilton had already warned Mercedes about the tyres overheating during qualifying and now he was faced with having to nurse his car to the finish in Baku.

“It was the worst balance I probably I’ve ever had, one of the worst balances,” said Hamilton.

“I had so much front end and no rear. It’s not the way you drive. I had to yank the steering to break the traction from the front, slide the front through every corner. It’s the weirdest way to drive.”

Lewis Hamilton ignored ‘horror’ message from Toto Wolff

Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff usually speaks to both of his drivers over the radio after the race, and in Baku he urged Hamilton to ‘look forward’ to the next race at Singapore.

Wolff’s remarks were met with silence from Hamilton and nor did he respond to messages from Bonnington, instead simply reporting that Nico Hulkenberg had overtaken under Virtual Safety Car conditions on the cool-down lap.

READ MORE: Everything you need to know about Mercedes AMG F1 Team from team principal to lineage

Hamilton lost the advantage in the qualifying battle against Russell, having also faced similar problems to his race in qualifying.

He retains sixth in the Drivers’ Championship going into the next round at the Marina Bay Street Circuit, while Russell has narrowed the gap to 23 points from him.