Hamilton Apologizes to Leclerc After the Azerbaijan Grand Prix
Lewis Hamilton has expressed his intention to apologize to Charles Leclerc after the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. The Formula 1 driver admitted a miscalculation in the attempt to return the eighth position to his Ferrari teammate on the last lap of the race. Hamilton’s strategy put him on fresher, softer tires for the final stint. Leclerc was instructed to concede position on lap 43 to allow his teammate to attack the cars ahead in the final stages of the race. When Hamilton couldn’t overtake Lando Norris for seventh place, he was ordered to let Leclerc pass on the last lap.
Leclerc commented that the last lap was not in line with the team’s protocol, but downplayed the incident based on the positions at stake.“In the end, I received the message very late,” explained Hamilton. “I was focused on the car in front, although there was a 0.001 percent chance of overtaking, I still had hope. Basically, I lifted off the gas on the straight and braked, but I missed it by about 0.4 seconds, so it was a miscalculation on my part, so I will apologize to Charles.”
Lewis Hamilton
After starting the race from 12th on the grid, Hamilton said there were some positives from Baku, even if the final result didn’t meet Ferrari’s expectations. “Definitely not where we want to be, obviously a disappointing result at the end of the day, but I moved forward from 12th place, which was positive,” he said. “I had a good start and I think my pace was generally good, I was on top of it, definitely much better, much happier in the car.”There are rules that we know we have to work with and today maybe those rules were not respected, but no… P8 and P9 or P9 and P8, that’s not something that really interests me. Moreover, in the future, obviously, if we are fighting for more attractive positions, which I hope is the case, I hope we work in a different way. But on a day like that, I don’t really care.
Charles Leclerc
