After violating the parc ferme criteria, Lewis Hamilton had a difficult race and had to start from the pits in the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. He was unable to crack the top 10, even with a new engine and modifications to the vehicle.
“One of the components wasn’t built correctly,” Hamilton disclosed. On Saturday, that turned us in the wrong direction. It wasn’t until the end of the day that we learned.
Hamilton, who was trapped in 14th place and was racing youngster Oliver Bearman in the Haas, ran outside the points for the most of the race. When he eventually passed Bearman, he was still outside the points. However, a collision involving Sergio Perez and Carlos Sainz moved him up to ninth position.
“Are you seeing how I have to drive this thing?” Hamilton asked over the team radio. “Copy that Lewis. It’s effective though.” Hamilton later said, “It was the worst balance I’ve probably ever had. One of the worst balances. Basically, I had so much front end but no rears I had to turn like this, it’s not the way you drive.
I had to yank the steering to break the traction from the front, slide the front through every corner. It’s the weirdest way to drive.” Mercedes had also installed a new power unit prior to the race. Hamilton added, “We had a great car on Friday and made the tiniest changes into Saturday.
We need one engine because I lost one earlier, therefore the best race they suggested to at least do the engine replacement. We were prepared for a difficult day.