Hamilton did himself and his team a disservice in Baku
As if on a silver platter, Mercedes had the chance at the Formula 1 Grand Prix in Baku to regain the championship lead despite the modest performance. After competitor Max Verstappen was paralyzed by a flat tire on Sunday, Lewis Hamilton grabbed the win – but he got on his steering wheel. The victory went to Red Bull again, this time to Sergio Perez. “We can't keep losing points like we did in Monaco and here,” said team principal Toto Wolff.
“That is not acceptable,” said the Viennese after the race that the Mexican Perez won ahead of Sebastian Vettel in the Aston Martin and AlphaTauri driver Pierre Gasly. “We really have to show our top level if we want to fight for the world championship. And our car just wasn't there all weekend.” The error rate in all areas of the team is too high. Hamilton finished the eventful race in Azerbaijan after a major brake right after the restart as 15th team-mate Valtteri Bottas did not get past 12th place. For the first time since the beginning of the hybrid era in 2014, both Mercedes crossed the finish line beyond the points.
Hamilton finished seventh in Monaco, and Bottas had to give up the race prematurely with a stuck bike. Verstappen shone as the winner. In Baku, too, the Dutchman seemed on track to achieve an undisputed success for Red Bull when, a few laps before the end at over 300 km / h, the rubber on his left rear tire suddenly could no longer withstand the loads. The reason for this is not yet known. With the Canadian Lance Stroll, too, the Pirelli tire on the left gave up the ghost.
During the standing restart, Hamilton braked himself in his attack on Perez in the first corner and drove straight ahead into the run-off zone. Afterwards he confessed to his race engineer Peter Bonnington via radio that he had mistakenly pressed the “Magic” button. As Wolff confirmed, this changes the braking balance. Hamilton's maneuver was completely okay, “only the brakes weren't there or not properly adjusted. That's why he missed the braking point,” the 49-year-old analyzed. “I'm not exactly sure, but I caught a button that only made the front brakes work,” said Hamilton himself.
The fact that the seven-time world champion was presumably the cause of his own misfortune with an operator error made him a tragic figure. “The slightest, wrong touch of his steering wheel” turned out to be “enormously expensive,” said the newspaper “The Guardian” from Hamilton's British homeland. The possible lead in the World Championship “disappeared in a cloud of brake dust when the magic of Hamilton turned against him for once”.
“But it is not just the incident at the end that is so frustrating. It is general that we do not meet our own expectations,” said Wolff. “We lose second after second until we put the car in a window where it works. It just takes too long.” However, he had the feeling that Monaco and Azerbaijan were the two worst races for Mercedes. “I hope I'm right about that,” he said.
“It was two incredibly difficult races,” emphasized Hamilton, who had previously made it into the top ten 54 times in a row. “Today it was bad luck, but Max also had bad luck,” said the 36-year-old, referring to the luck that the Dutchman was only four points ahead of him in the World Cup. “We now have ten days to close the gaps. The world championship is wide, wide open,” said Wolff fiercely.
At Red Bull, after the first double victory, the joy has dominated on two consecutive weekends since 2014 – at that time Daniel Ricciardo won in Hungary and Belgium. “We love Baku! The team did an overwhelming job, and I would like to thank Mr Mateschitz (Red Bull owner; note) for giving me this great opportunity and the seat,” said the 31- year old Perez his first Grand Prix victory for the “Bulls”. After the failure of Verstappen, there was of course also a crying eye. “It's pretty frustrating. I don't even know what to say,” said the World Cup leader.
