Lewis Hamilton showed the fifth fastest time in qualifying in Baku, losing more than nine-tenths to pole-holder Charles Leclerc. His teammate George Russell did not reach the final with the eleventh result. Mercedes expects to compete for higher positions in the sprint.
Lewis Hamilton (5e): “We tried and did what we could. On this circuit it is not easy to find the rhythm and to squeeze the maximum out of the car. In the second part of qualifying I had problems – I couldn’t put together the last lap, although the car had pace.
The first round in the final turned out to be good, but it’s a pity that I couldn’t seriously improve in the decisive attempt. I didn’t have enough time to get ahead of Carlos Sainz’s Ferrari.
We can’t change the settings of the car, so we have that kind of speed for the rest of the weekend. In the evening I’m going to study telemetry – I hope tomorrow will help to add a little.
Naturally, the team did not want to qualify in such positions. We strive for wins so that the whole team works at maximum efficiency. Fifth is good for a start on Sunday, but I hope we will fight for more tomorrow.”
George Russell (11th): “I would like to reach the final and have done everything for it. Unfortunately we are not fast enough this weekend. My first lap in the second part was fast, but on the last attempt I made a mistake and that was enough to not make it to the final. In any case, I don’t think I could have qualified higher than eighth place.
Sometimes our sport is funny. In the last stage in Melbourne I qualified on the front row and today I didn’t get out of the second part. Tomorrow is another chance to fight, but Friday was not perfect at all.
The job in Baku is unique and a bit unusual. If I have to choose which track to do a failed qualifying on, Baku will probably be the preferred choice. There’s no reason to think why we can’t bounce back on Sunday. Let’s see what we can do tomorrow. Together with the team, we will work with maximum efficiency to perform better.”
Source: F1 News
I am Christopher Clyde, an experienced journalist and content writer with a passion for sports. I have been writing about Formula 1 news for the past five years and am currently employed as an author at athletistic.com, one of the top sports websites in the US.
