Lewis Hamilton completed ninth after beginning in pit lane in Sunday’s race, gaining two locations late on due to Carlos Sainz and Sergio Perez’s crash; Hamilton additionally says Mercedes have been out-developed by their rivals

Lewis Hamilton says he at all times anticipated his Azerbaijan Grand Prix to be “disastrous” after Mercedes’ engine penalty, with the seven-time world champion ultimately ending ninth in a irritating race.

Hamilton certified seventh in Baku however was compelled to begin from the pit lane after Mercedes opted to suit a brand new engine after which, in distinction to McLaren’s Lando Norris, struggled to make floor within the race.

“I knew it was going to be a disastrous race as quickly as this choice was made final evening,” stated a downbeat Hamilton.

Hamilton began on the laborious tyre earlier than pitting on Lap 13, however whereas Norris moved from fifteenth to fourth on race day by way of a pack of automobiles, a Mercedes automobile with much less straight-line velocity made Hamilton’s comeback tougher.

His feedback have been eerily related these of Mercedes boss Toto Wolff, who stated: “We knew it might be a race of distress as a result of it is so troublesome to overhaul in Baku.”

“You get shut then overheat the tyres and also you go backwards, so that is what occurred.”

Hamilton: Mercedes have been out-developed | Are upgrades coming?

Mercedes ran the previous ground in Baku and can do the identical subsequent weekend on the Singapore Grand Prix.

Within the opening observe classes, Hamilton was proud of the stability of the automobile however struggled from Saturday onwards.

“It was fairly good on Friday however I feel the others have developed and we have not on this section – however we have now some stuff coming,” he stated.

For the reason that resumption of F1 after the summer time break, Hamilton has completed in eighth, fifth and ninth however stays 23 factors in entrance of Russell within the Drivers’ Championship.

Mercedes received three out of 4 races earlier than the summer time however have not discovered that kind not too long ago and Wolff hopes a brand-new ground at the US Grand Prix, which follows Singapore, will enhance the efficiency

“We nonetheless suffered from the identical stability issues we had with the brand new ground,” he stated.

“With Singapore, we have now the identical one, so we have now to race that. From Austin onwards, we are going to go to a brand new spec.”

Russell on ‘odd race’: Nobody understands the tyres

Russell benefitted from the Perez and Sainz collision to maneuver up from fifth onto the rostrum in a race of two halves.

The Mercedes driver began in fifth however dropped to sixth behind Max Verstappen after the opening lap.

Nevertheless, he had nice tempo on the laborious tyres and was the quickest driver within the second half of the race, albeit had a lonely drive for a lot of it.

“It was a extremely odd race. The primary 20 laps we have been 1.5 seconds off the tempo, the final 20 laps we have been one second faster than Piastri or Charles [Leclerc], 0.3 or 0.4s faster than Carlos and Checo,” Russell instructed Sky Sports activities F1.

“These tyres… it is the identical automobile, identical driver, identical observe. How one can have two extremes, I do not know?

“P5 was a good outcome. Most likely ought to have been P6 if Lando began in his regular place.”

Pirelli applied excessive tyre pressures this weekend, which can have performed a task in Russell’s unusual Sunday.

He thinks Mercedes have lots of tempo as soon as they discover the candy spot with the tyres and claims he was “simply gradual” on the mediums within the early levels of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

“There was no endurance concerned. Charles pulled 17 seconds in 15 laps and I used to be doing every thing I may to handle the tyres and get them below management,” he defined.

“I used to be simply dropping off a cliff, then on the laborious tyres it felt like I had a race-winning automobile.

“At first it felt prefer it was a P20 automobile. It is a bit bit infuriating for each driver that we’re coping with this week in, week out, however each driver says the identical in regards to the tyres. It has been 14 years with these tyres and nobody understands them.”

System 1’s thrilling 2024 season continues reside on Sky Sports activities F1 subsequent weekend with extra beautiful avenue circuit motion, this time below the lights on the Singapore Grand Prix.