Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc, Eliminated in a Chaotic Qualifying
The Saturday qualifying session was full of drama and surprises, with Lewis Hamilton suffering an unexpected elimination in Q2. His teammate, Charles Leclerc, also starred in an incident by crashing. The session, which extended longer than usual, was stopped with a red flag on six occasions. Leclerc, Pierre Gasly, Franco Colapinto, and the championship leader, Oscar Piastri, were some of the drivers who crashed into the barriers. Hamilton, seven-time world champion, will start from twelfth position on the grid. His best lap in Q2 placed him in tenth place, but Leclerc’s time relegated him to the elimination zone. Leclerc managed to advance to the final qualifying session before crashing into the barriers at Turn 15, with seven minutes remaining.
Hamilton went on to explain that the car’s pace had been good, and that he felt confident, without making mistakes. The choice of tires at the end of the session was a key factor. Most of the drivers ahead of him used the medium tire, but he lost a medium tire in P2. Hamilton, who will start behind Fernando Alonso, added: “There have been many positives this weekend. Honestly, I thought I was going to fight for pole today, so it’s a bit shocking.”I am obviously very disappointed. Yesterday the car felt good, today we took a direction that, on paper, seemed the best for us.
Lewis Hamilton
In qualifying, Leclerc made many changes to the car to try to change the feeling. The feeling improved until he put on the medium tires. Leclerc explained that it was very difficult from the moment they put on the mediums. For some reason, yesterday he felt it was the best tire for his car. Today he felt that he could never reach the correct window of the tires, and that made it very complicated.I’ve been struggling a lot, and I come to Baku, and everything flows naturally, and this year was not the case. I don’t think I understand why.
Charles Leclerc
