Ferrari drivers Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton both felt they were on the wrong tyres in qualifying for Formula 1’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix in Baku despite what were effectively opposite strategies.
Hamilton had been quickest in the “best FP2” of his season, but he was knocked out in Q2 in 12th, while Leclerc prematurely ended his Q3 with his big shunt into the barriers at the Turn 15 right-hander - leaving him 10th on the grid.
Ferrari split its strategy in Q2, with softs fitted to Hamilton’s car and mediums fitted to Leclerc’s.
Ferrari believed the medium was quicker, but Leclerc had three sets of the mediums while Hamilton only had two - so Ferrari wanted to save both of Hamilton’s medium sets for Q3.
“The medium tyre was just much quicker,” Hamilton said.
“Basically, the team chose to run me on a medium in FP2, and Charles was meant to run it in the second run of FP2, but they opted - because everyone else wasn't out on them - to keep it.
“And then all the top 10 basically had three mediums. We knew that the medium was quicker; they said it was about three tenths or something like that, and it felt great. And we should've run it in Q2.”
Leclerc’s off at Turn 1 on his first flying lap of Q2 compromised Hamilton’s run because of the resultant yellow flags.
By the time he went again, his tyres were shot, he was leaking time across multiple corners and ended up 0.644s slower than a medium-shod Leclerc and 0.395s away from making it to Q3.
“I felt like we made a lot of progress and we were looking really strong. And I didn't make any mistakes. It was just then, because I was on the back foot with only two mediums, we were thinking of having two mediums in Q3 - but you've got to get to Q3 first!” Hamilton said.
“So, ultimately, just not the best execution. Definitely disappointed but lots of positives today.”
Hamilton added that he had felt “I might be able to get pole today".
"I've not felt that all year. So, yeah, it's definitely tough to be in 12th, but I don't think that's - that's not [because of] my driving, it's just execution needed to be better.”
As well as wanting to save two sets of softs, Ferrari told Hamilton that the warm-up time needed for a late switch mediums would be too long.
“I know exactly all the places that have gone wrong in the background,” Hamilton said.
“So that's a positive. So we know exactly where those are. And I know now what to do, moving forwards, to make sure- well, implementing those in the heat of the moment in qualifying is not so easy - but there's lots we can take internally to improve.”
Ironically, when Leclerc arrived in the media pen 20 minutes or so after Hamilton, he had the complete opposite complaints.
Leclerc’s ‘uphill’ battle
He may have taken the previous four pole positions at this track, but Leclerc had been struggling heading into qualifying.
“[I’m] obviously frustrated because it's a track that I normally enjoy and where things flow quite naturally, but it's been the complete opposite the whole weekend and I'm just struggling a lot to find the limits of the car and to find the feeling with the car,” Leclerc explained.
“So I knew going into qualifying that it was a bit of an uphill work and I've changed quite a lot the car going into qualifying and I felt a lot better.
“And Q1 and all the laps on the soft felt much better - and then I we went on the medium, which we had kept because we thought it was the best tyre.
"It was just impossible for me to switch them on - and difficult conditions or not, I don't think that this is the reason
“I think we were just lacking a lot of pace on medium. I was probably seven or eight tenths off before the mistake and I was pushing like crazy, so, yeah, something felt off there and we'll look into it. But yeah, it was difficult.”
Leclerc shrugged off the damp track as being any excuse for his poor lap and crash: “I don’t think so, when you look at Carlos’s lap at that time”.
Leclerc added: “I had the same point of view as Lewis. I thought I had an advantage going into qualy with the mediums and then I put them on and I kind of regretted thinking I had an advantage because it was extremely tricky.”
He said he “nearly didn’t make it to Q3” with multiple off-track moments.
Pirelli anticipates a pure difference of two tenths between the soft and medium tyres, but acknowledges that’s going to vary for different teams.
More from Baku
Winners and losers from F1's 2025 Azerbaijan Grand Prix qualifying
Mark Hughes: Why Verstappen thrived and rivals flopped in Baku chaos
Why McLaren is suddenly fearing a Verstappen title comeback
Verstappen beats Sainz to pole in chaotic, crash-filled Baku F1 qualifying
“The soft with this temperature was better in terms of warm-up, for the mediums sometimes it was difficult to have a proper warm-up or the tyre ready immediately when they were pushing,” Pirelli’s Mario Isola confirmed.
That backs up what Ferrari had told Hamilton when he wanted to switch to mediums in the middle of Q2.
When the Ferrari contrast was put to Isola, he said: “I don’t know exactly…it’s true they [the compounds] are close, also the set-up of the car could play a role in that, when the difference is so small [between compounds], you can adapt your car.”
Hamilton still targeting podium
Both Ferrari drivers were reasonably optimistic of mounting a recovery, especially given Ferrari’s strong Friday pace - Mark Hughes’s analysis found they were 1-2 in the long run averages, albeit with some caveats.
“My pace was decent in FP2, race pace we were the quickest. So I'm really hoping tomorrow that we've got decent pace - we've got good straightline speed, we should hopefully be able to fight guys, and so much can happen here with safety cars and all sorts of strategy can really come into play,” Hamilton said.
“So, I'm just going to come into it as optimistic as possible, and I'm still going to try and get into the top three; that's been my goal all week.”
Leclerc added: “We've normally had very good Saturdays and very bad Sundays here. I hope to turn the situation around this weekend.”
He thinks the issues that hurt him in qualifying “should be better in a race run, but it's not like it's going to change completely”.
