Hamilton Towed Leclerc the Whole of Baku Qualifying and Still Ended Up 0.5s Slower
Lewis Hamilton had his worst qualifying of the season – 1.332s off pole and half a second behind the very teammate he’d been towing down the straight.
Снимка: LAP.bg
There’s a special kind of disappointment reserved exclusively for seven-time champions – giving your teammate a free tow down the entire straight and still ending up half a second slower than him. That’s exactly what happened to Lewis Hamilton in Baku qualifying, a session the Briton himself called his worst of the entire season.
“I towed Charles the whole time,” Hamilton explained, while the timing screens kept showing that he, of all people, was the slower of the two Ferrari drivers. Towing your teammate to a better time and then falling behind yourself is a specific kind of sportsmanship rarely covered in the strategy textbooks.
1.332 Seconds Off Pole, 25 Seconds Behind Russell
The final result left Hamilton 1.332 seconds behind George Russell’s pole time, while Russell himself held nearly eight tenths over his nearest rival. On Hamilton’s final run, there was no one ahead of him to provide a tow of his own – 25 seconds behind Russell, completely alone on track, with an estimated loss of around 0.6 seconds compared to the tow he’d had in an earlier session.
The Tyres Are to Blame Again – Because Someone Always Has to Be
Hamilton didn’t miss the chance to point at the tyres too: “We’ve been struggling all weekend to get the tyres working… It’s such a pain in the arse. We’ve got to bring back some good tyres.” The classic formula – when the lap time doesn’t show up, the tyres take the blame before the driver does.
On the car’s competitiveness, Hamilton was strikingly modest: “Maybe the third-fastest car” – an assessment the engineers back in Maranello probably won’t love, but one that explains rather well why towing your teammate forward isn’t always a great idea if you end up left behind yourself.
Based on reporting by motorsport.com.
