Lewis Hamilton finished ninth after starting in pit lane in Sunday's race, gaining two places late on thanks to Carlos Sainz and Sergio Perez's crash; Hamilton also says Mercedes have been out-developed by their rivals
Monday 16 September 2024 11:28, UK
Lewis Hamilton says he always expected his Azerbaijan Grand Prix to be "disastrous" after Mercedes' engine penalty, with the seven-time world champion eventually finishing ninth in a frustrating race.
Hamilton qualified seventh in Baku but was forced to start from the pit lane after Mercedes opted to fit a new engine and then, in contrast to McLaren's Lando Norris, struggled to make ground in the race.
The Englishman finished behind both Williams cars in ninth, with his points finish only possible thanks to Carlos Sainz and Sergio Perez's crash in the battle for third on the penultimate lap.
"I knew it was going to be a disastrous race as soon as this decision was made last night," said a downbeat Hamilton.
Hamilton started on the hard tyre before pitting on Lap 13, but while Norris moved from 15th to fourth on race day through a pack of cars, a Mercedes car with less straight-line speed made Hamilton's comeback more difficult.
His comments were eerily similar those of Mercedes boss Toto Wolff, who said: "We knew it would be a race of misery because it's so difficult to overtake in Baku."
"You get close then overheat the tyres and you go backwards, so that's what happened."
Mercedes ran the old floor in Baku and will do the same next weekend at the Singapore Grand Prix.
In the opening practice sessions, Hamilton was happy with the balance of the car but struggled from Saturday onwards.
"It was pretty good on Friday but I think the others have developed and we haven't in this phase - but we have some stuff coming," he said.
Since the resumption of F1 after the summer break, Hamilton has finished in eighth, fifth and ninth but remains 23 points in front of Russell in the Drivers' Championship.
Mercedes won three out of four races before the summer but haven't found that form recently and Wolff hopes a brand-new floor at the United States Grand Prix, which follows Singapore, will improve the performance
"We still suffered from the same balance problems we had with the new floor," he said.
"With Singapore, we have the same one, so we have to race that. From Austin onwards, we will go to a new spec."
Russell benefitted from the Perez and Sainz collision to move up from fifth onto the podium in a race of two halves.
The Mercedes driver started in fifth but dropped to sixth behind Max Verstappen after the opening lap.
However, he had great pace on the hard tyres and was the fastest driver in the second half of the race, albeit had a lonely drive for much of it.
"It was a really odd race. The first 20 laps we were 1.5 seconds off the pace, the last 20 laps we were one second quicker than Piastri or Charles [Leclerc], 0.3 or 0.4s quicker than Carlos and Checo," Russell told Sky Sports F1.
"These tyres... it's the same car, same driver, same track. How you can have two extremes, I don't know?
"P5 was a fair result. Probably should have been P6 if Lando started in his normal place."
Pirelli implemented high tyre pressures this weekend, which may have played a role in Russell's strange Sunday.
He thinks Mercedes have a lot of pace once they find the sweet spot with the tyres and claims he was "just slow" on the mediums in the early stages of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
"There was no patience involved. Charles pulled 17 seconds in 15 laps and I was doing everything I could to manage the tyres and get them under control," he explained.
"I was just dropping off a cliff, then on the hard tyres it felt like I had a race-winning car.
"At the beginning it felt like it was a P20 car. It's a little bit infuriating for every driver that we are dealing with this week in, week out, but every driver says the same about the tyres. It's been 14 years with these tyres and no one understands them."
Formula 1's thrilling 2024 season continues live on Sky Sports F1 this weekend with more stunning street circuit action, this time under the lights at the Singapore Grand Prix. Stream every F1 race and more with a NOW Sports Month Membership - No contract, cancel anytime
