Azerbaijan GP: Lewis Hamilton bemoans 'really difficult' qualifying session

Lewis Hamilton reflected on a ‘really difficult’ qualifying session on Saturday afternoon at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, and said that he hoped his race pace would be good in Baku to try and climb the field.

The 7-time world champion will start tomorrow’s race from 7th place after seeing his Mercedes car once again hammering up and down on the track surface thanks to porpoising.

Indeed, it looked an uncomfortable ride for Lewis and he spoke about it after the session, chatting to Sky Sports.

“It was a really difficult qualifying session.

“We have a very, very small window where we can work this car. Everything we try doesn’t give us what we want.

“We’re making lots of changes but we’re always coming to the same conclusion, which is most often bouncing, which loses us a lot of performance.

“And all the performance is when you get the car low, so we say ‘Okay, let’s take a beating on our backs and necks to get the car as low as possible to get us performance’.

“So it’s a little bit lower and it’s bouncing more than the other cars but we’re still there, we’re just very slow on the straights.

“It might be a struggle in the race but we’re going to give it everything and I hope I have better race pace.

“There’s still lots to look forward to. It’s a tricky, chaotic race, there’s lots that can happen, we’re in the top 10.”

As Lewis mentions, Baku has thrown up plenty of drama in years gone by, and Mercedes might need some of that if they’re to get near the podium.