How frustrated Hamilton spent 24 laps stuck behind Bearman in “horror race” · RaceFans

Lewis Hamilton knew he faced a frustrating Azerbaijan Grand Prix once Mercedes decided to sacrifice his seventh place on the grid so he could take a fresh power unit.

But the team’s hopes he would be able to use that extra power to recover a decent points finish were dashed as Hamilton found it difficult to make any progress in the slipstream of his rivals.

Time and again Hamilton was unable to attack the car ahead of him as his rubber overheated, whether he was on the medium or hard compound. And just as he was starting to make progress in the final laps, the Virtual Safety Car was deployed and his last chances to make any moves disappeared.

Earlier in the race Mercedes predicted he should finish at least ninth, which he did. However he had been aided by the unexpected late retirements of two drivers ahead of him, so the result was clearly less than Mercedes had hoped for. This selection of his radio messages from Sunday’s race shows what went wrong.

Hamilton’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix radio messages

Jump to:

“Overtaking’s going to be difficult”
“This tyre is pretty bad”
“The rear’s just sliding around”
“This tyre’s so much better”
“Am I just slow?”
“Are you seeing how I have to drive this thing?”
“My tyres are ruined now”
“He’s backing me up”
“I’m not even going to say it”
“It was a horror race”

“Overtaking’s going to be difficult”

“This tyre is pretty bad”

Hamilton picked off the two Sauber drivers quickly. Ahead of him Yuki Tsunoda dropped back through the field after picking up damage in a first-lap collision with Lance Stroll.

However Hamilton quickly discovered his medium compound tyres were overheating in the turbulent air of the cars ahead of him.

“The rear’s just sliding around”

After passing Tsunoda on lap four, Hamilton became stuck behind Pierre Gasly, unable to pass despite the Alpine not being able to use DRS after falling too far behind Daniel Ricciardo.

When Franco Colapinto became the first of the drivers ahead to pit on lap 10, Mercedes wasted no time bringing Hamilton in. He asked for his front wing angle to be reduced in an attempt to balance the handling on the hard tyres.

“This tyre’s so much better”

Hamilton was happier on his hard tyres to begin with.

“Am I just slow?”

Oliver Bearman emerged from the pits in front of Hamilton on lap 15. For several laps Hamilton pressed the Haas driver but was unable to pierce his defences, again despite the car ahead lacking the benefit of DRS for several laps.

He dropped back from the Haas driver on lap 21, his tyres overheating again. Mercedes tried to offer some useful guidance on where he could improve his lap times compared to team mate George Russell.

“Are you seeing how I have to drive this thing?”

Mercedes gave Hamilton some guidance on how to get his tyre temperatures under control.

Hamilton began to close back on Bearman again but was clearly unhappy with his car’s handling.

“My tyres are ruined now”

After 24 laps of trying, Hamilton finally found a way past Bearman, who had spent five laps stuck to Colapinto’s tail. Now it was the seven-times champion’s turn to try to find a way past the rookie in his second race.

But once again, after a few laps in Colapinto’s tail Hamilton felt his tyres starting to give up.

“He’s backing me up”

The complexion of the race changed suddenly in the final laps. Nico Hulkenberg, 10th, began to slow from lap 42, then was suddenly caught and passed by Colapinto.

As Hamilton began sizing up Hulkenberg, Carlos Sainz Jnr and Sergio Perez crashed disputing third place. Hulkenberg hit debris as they passed through the crash scene and Hamilton pounced to take what was now ninth place.

“I’m not even going to say it”

But with the Virtual Safety Car now deployed, a glum Hamilton reflected there would be no time left to attack the remaining cars ahead of him. Team principal Toto Wolff

“It was a horror race”

Team principal Toto Wolff came on the radio to offer his consolation. Hamilton alerted his team to the fact Hulkenberg and Gasly were overtaking cars under VSC conditions on their way back to the pits, for which they later received official warnings. But for Hamilton, this had been a race to forget.