Lewis Hamilton Warns F1 Fans: "Didn't Realise We'd Have Such A Huge Deficit"
Seven-time F1 champion Lewis Hamilton revealed after the Azerbaijan Grand Prix qualifying session that he did not think the Mercedes team would have "such a huge deficit on the straights".
Statistics show that Mercedes are the slowest cars on the straights of the Baku track, which is clearly not where the Brackley-based squad wanted to be. Despite the struggles, Hamilton was able to qualify in fifth place for the grand prix on Sunday behind Carlos Sainz in fourth and ahead of Fernando Alonso who will be starting in sixth position.
Unfortunately for Hamilton's teammate George Russell, he was knocked out of qualifying in Q2 so will be starting in eleventh position on the grid on Sunday.
Speaking to the press after the qualifying session, Hamilton addressed the issues he had experienced and confessed that he didn't think they would be that much slower on the straights. He explained:
"We're trying as hard as we can, giving it absolutely everything out there and its just timing and getting into the rhythm and really pulling out everything is not easy on this track.
"I think in Q2 I struggled. I had more pace I just didn't get that last lap. My Q3 run was a really sweet lap, unfortunately, I just matched it basically at the end but needed just a little bit more time just to nip a Ferrari.
"Actually, you know this is not the position we want as a team. We exist to win. But everyone has that winning mindset and everyone is working as hard as they can.
"We haven't had an upgrade this weekend but we're hoping we're working towards one that will hopefully put us a little closer to the battle ahead.
"I didn't really know what to expect this weekend. I knew that the Red Bulls would be particularly quick, but I didn't realise we'd have such a huge deficit on the straights."