Tire gamble backfires: Hamilton clearly misses out on Q3 in Baku – Why he blames Ferrari and still believes he can make the podium
Only twelfth on the grid: Lewis Hamilton is “very disappointed” with his performance in Formula 1 qualifying at the 2025 Azerbaijan Grand Prix in Baku – and blames Ferrari for it.
Because when “everyone ahead of me” was driving on medium tires in Q2, Hamilton was on soft tires – and missed out on advancing to the third qualifying segment by more than four-tenths of a second.
Hamilton explains: “We didn’t have the right tires on in the end. The medium tires were much faster. We knew that. They said there was about a three-tenths of a second difference. The medium tires had also felt good. We should have used them in Q2.”
Hamilton wanted a tire change, but …
Hamilton says he himself pushed for the medium tire compound to be used. When a showdown loomed in Q2, there would have been enough time for a change. “I wanted it. I wanted to come in. But the decision was made not to do that. They said: Stay out!” says Hamilton.
“The team said the medium tires would take too long to warm up. Then we ran out of time, and in the end, fuel became an issue too—none of it was ideal.”
However, Hamilton himself also contributed to this situation: on Friday, he ruined a set of medium tires in an incident during free practice. He was missing this set of tires in the second qualifying session because Ferrari was planning to use two sets of medium tires for Q3. “So I was on the wrong side,” admits the former champion.
Pushed into the “wrong” setup by Ferrari?
But Hamilton also criticizes Ferrari for another reason: his SF-25 “felt good” in Friday’s practice, which is underlined by Hamilton’s fastest time of the day – just ahead of Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc, who is considered a Baku specialist. Leclerc acknowledges: “Lewis was better and more consistent than me from the start this weekend.”
On Saturday, however, Hamilton’s Ferrari “didn’t feel as good” as it had on Friday. According to Hamilton, this was due to “the direction the team pushed us in with the setup.” However, he does not go into detail.
He simply says: “On paper, it looked like the best way for us. In fact, the pace was good. We made progress. I felt in the flow, didn’t make any mistakes. I felt really good and I thought I would be fighting for pole position. I haven’t felt that all year.”
Hamilton announces internal review
That’s why the Q2 exit was a “small shock” for him, Hamilton says. “Being twelfth is tough. We just didn’t get it right. So I’m definitely disappointed, but I don’t think it was down to my driving. It was about the execution. But I’ll take it and try again.“ Everything else needs to be sorted out ”internally.“
That could lead to some interesting conversations with Ferrari team boss Frederic Vasseur. He told Sky: ”Today was more about getting the tires in the right temperature window than about tire choice.”
Hamilton still thinking about the podium
But Hamilton has not given up hope of a good result: “On Friday, we were the fastest in race trim. Hopefully, we’ll have good pace and good top speed on Sunday so we can fight. I’m going into the race as optimistic as possible – and I still want to finish in the top 3. And where there’s a will, there’s a way.”
However, Hamilton has not yet found his way onto the podium in 16 Grands Prix in the 2025 Formula 1 season: he only managed one victory in the China Sprint, but the seven-time world champion is still waiting for such a success over the Grand Prix distance.
However, Friday’s best time has given him new momentum: “It was my best second practice session of the year so far and it really put me in a positive frame of mind.”
Conciliatory tones towards Ferrari
And even the qualifying session, which he considers to have been a failure, had something good about it: “I know exactly where things went wrong in the background. That’s a positive sign. Because I know what I have to do in the future to prevent it from happening again.“
Despite all the criticism, Hamilton also shows understanding for Ferrari: ”It’s not so easy to implement everything in the heat of the moment in qualifying. So we can take a lot away internally to improve. And I’m sure we will.”
