Lewis Hamilton expressed frustration with Ferrari's approach to Q3 after qualifying sixth for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, saying "they changed the plan". Hamilton questioned why the team completed only one run of multiple laps at the end of the final knockout stage rather than go out earlier for initial laps, as Mercedes, McLaren and Red Bull with Max Verstappen had done. The seven-time world champion said his final laps were compromised by having no 'tow' from a car in front to aid straight-line speed down Baku's long main straight.
Team-mate Charles Leclerc did have a tow, from Hamilton, by dint of the fact it was the Monegasque's turn to go out second in final qualifying. Leclerc qualified second behind dominant Mercedes polesitter George Russell, who topped qualifying by a season-high margin of eight tenths of a second. Reflecting on his own session, Hamilton told Sky Sports F1: "It was a pretty bad qualifying once again.
It's not for the lack of trying. "Q1 and Q2 were pretty ok. At least Q1 was pretty decent, Q2 we struggled a little bit more, and then as we went into Q3 they changed the plan.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player "Instead of doing two runs we ended up waiting and then because I was ahead of Charles, I had nobody ahead of me on a tow so that was worth quite a chunk in itself. "But, either way, we couldn't compete with the Mercedes. They are just outright so much quicker on the straights than us.
They did a great job." Three of the five cars in front of Hamilton on the grid - Russell and McLaren duo Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris - for Saturday's race at 1pm run Mercedes engines. "I think it's going to be hard to overtake a Mercedes tomorrow," added Hamilton. "Keeping up with a Mercedes engine on the straight will be tough but I'll give it everything I've got." Speaking in Ferrari's post-qualifying press release, team principal Frederic Vasseur said: "We made some significant changes to the set-up and to our approach, and they paid off today.
"George has been very strong since the first lap of FP1, but Charles did a good job to put the car on the front row. "On Lewis' side, it was difficult to get a tow because the different run plans made it complicated to synchronise with the other cars. He also brushed the wall on his first lap in Q3, which compromised that attempt, but he recovered well to finish sixth despite not having a tow on his final lap." Leclerc, who claimed Ferrari's first front-row since the Hungarian Grand Prix in July, was pleased with his lap but admitted the gap to Russell was "a lot more than what we expected" despite a challenging Thursday.
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