Lewis Hamilton voiced his disappointment with Ferrari's handling of the final qualifying segment (Q3) after he secured sixth place for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, remarking that "they changed the plan." The seven‑time world champion questioned why the Italian team opted for a single, multi‑lap run at the very end of the knockout stage instead of sending their car out earlier for the opening laps, a tactic employed by rivals such as Mercedes, McLaren and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen. Hamilton explained that his last flying laps were hampered by the lack of a tow – the aerodynamic push a car receives from a vehicle ahead on the long Baku straight. His teammate Charles Leclerc, by contrast, benefited from a tow provided by Hamilton because the Monegasque was scheduled to run second in the final qualifying session.
Leclerc’s effort earned him a front‑row start, slotting in second behind Mercedes pole‑sitter George Russell, who topped the timesheets by a season‑best eight‑tenths of a second. Reflecting on his own qualifying, Hamilton told Sky Sports F1: "It was a pretty bad qualifying once again.
It's not for the lack of trying. Q1 and Q2 were pretty ok. At least Q1 was pretty decent, Q2 we struggled a little bit more, and then as we went into Q3 they changed the plan." He continued: "Instead of doing two runs we ended up waiting and then because I was ahead of Charles, I had nobody ahead of me on a tow so that was worth quite a chunk in itself. But, either way, we couldn't compete with the Mercedes.
They are just outright so much quicker on the straights than us. They did a great job." Three of the five cars positioned ahead of Hamilton on the grid – Russell and the McLaren pair Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris – all run Mercedes power units, underscoring the performance gap Hamilton highlighted. "I think it's going to be hard to overtake a Mercedes tomorrow," he added, acknowledging the difficulty of matching the straight‑line speed of the German‑engine cars. "Keeping up with a Mercedes engine on the straight will be tough but I'll give it everything I've got." Ferrari team principal Frédéric Vasseur addressed the situation in the post‑qualifying press release, stating: "We made some significant changes to the set‑up and to our approach, and they paid off today.
George has been very strong since the first lap of FP1, but Charles did a good job to put the car on the front row. On Lewis' side, it was difficult to get a tow because the different run plans made it complicated to synchronise with the other cars. He also brushed the wall on his first lap in Q3, which compromised that attempt, but he recovered well to finish sixth despite not having a tow on his final lap." Leclerc, who secured Ferrari’s first front‑row start since the Hungarian Grand Prix in July, expressed satisfaction with his lap time but admitted the gap to Russell was larger than expected: "Honestly, it was quite a good lap.
Lewis was three‑four seconds, I think, in front, and I managed to do a good lap at the end. But when I see the gap to George, maybe the lap wasn't good enough." Despite the sizeable margin, Leclerc remained optimistic about the race, noting that Ferrari often performs better in race conditions than in qualifying.
"We'll try, and we'll do our best," he said. "Whether that'll be enough, only time will tell. But we know that we have a good race car, more often than not better in the race than in qualifying, and I hope that it will be the case again this weekend." Vasseur added that tyre degradation in Baku is expected to be minimal, which could elevate the importance of track position: "Tyre degradation is expected to be very low, which could make track position particularly important. We are in a position to score good points with both cars, even if Baku is always unpredictable." The broader weekend schedule includes a Formula 2 Feature Race at 7:55 am, followed by the Grand Prix build‑up at 10:30 am, the main race at 12:00 pm, a post‑race reaction segment at 2:00 pm, and a final commentary slot at 3:00 pm, all broadcast live on Sky Sports Main Event and streamed via NOW with a flexible, cancel‑anytime subscription.
Hamilton’s frustration highlights the strategic nuances of modern Formula 1 qualifying, where the timing of runs, the availability of a tow, and the coordination with other teams can dramatically affect lap times. In a circuit like Baku, where the long straight rewards straight‑line speed, missing a tow can cost several tenths of a second – enough to drop a driver several grid positions. While Ferrari’s decision to alter their plan may have secured a front‑row start for Leclerc, it left Hamilton without the aerodynamic assistance he needed to challenge the Mercedes‑powered cars. Looking ahead, Hamilton will need to capitalize on any opportunities to overtake the Mercedes drivers, perhaps by exploiting the slipstream on the main straight or by using a different tyre strategy to gain an advantage in the latter stages of the race.
Meanwhile, Ferrari will aim to convert Leclerc’s strong qualifying position into a podium finish, hoping that the low tyre wear will allow them to maintain track position and fend off the faster, but potentially more tyre‑hungry, Mercedes machines. The race promises to be a tactical battle, with the unpredictable nature of Baku’s street layout adding another layer of complexity. Both drivers and teams will be watching closely to see whether the strategic choices made in qualifying will pay off in the race’s high‑speed, high‑stakes environment.