Hamilton: Small Adjustments Spoiled Baku Race

Hamilton cites slight modifications as the cause of his underperformance in Baku, yet remains hopeful for the remaining seven races.

Lewis Hamilton experienced a challenging Saturday and Sunday in Baku, despite a good start to his weekend. The Mercedes F1 driver attributes the downturn to minor adjustments, marking a departure from earlier in the season when he would lose ground as the weekend progressed.

“There are many different reasons. In the past, even this year, it was because we were making significant changes. We would alter the balance between types of corners, for example, or make adjustments to the suspension settings,” stated the seven-time world champion.

“Last race, I liked the car; we made very minor changes but one component did the opposite of what we wanted, and we didn’t realize it until the end of the day. Saturday morning, I had massive understeer, whereas the car was supposed to be normal. But that wasn’t the case.”

“The weekend had started very positively; I had done a lot of simulator work, which isn’t often the case. And from the first laps, I was on pace. And suddenly, it slipped away, and it was miserable all weekend.”

“We can attribute it to different things, but everyone is very careful and wants to do their best. Everyone is giving their maximum, and that will be the case until the end of the season. And if things don’t go well, we don’t get discouraged; we still have seven more chances to do better.”

Irritated by Ben Sulayem’s “Stereotypical” Remarks

FIA President Mohammed Ben Sulayem’s comment that swearing should stop on the radio, and his comparison of drivers to rappers, did not sit well with Hamilton, who considered it a racially tinged cliché.

“It divides into two parts, because I only heard about it today. On one hand, when I was 22, I didn’t think about it much and it was more like my emotions were inflamed and I said whatever came to mind, not forgetting how many people and children are listening.”

“I agree in the sense that some young people are listening, and they haven’t understood it yet, and eventually, they probably will. I’m sure if you say there are penalties for it, people will stop. I don’t know if it’s necessary, but I really think there’s a bit too much swearing.”

“But in what he said, I didn’t like the way he expressed it. Saying we are like rappers was very stereotypical, and if you think that most rappers are black, it really points to the fact that we are not like them.”

“So I think it was the wrong choice of words, and there’s a racial element in there, but as I said, I agree to clean it up a bit. But just a bit. Because it’s also good to have emotions, it’s very, very hard and we are not robots.”

“For me, the way I control this is that I’m aware that there are over 2000 people working for me or George, for me to do this job and to have this position and to be where I am with many followers of all ages.”

“But it’s not about me, even though I have this track experience, what I do and what I say affects all these people who sacrifice time with their family. They give absolutely everything for me to have this privileged position and this opportunity, so you need to understand that and channel that aggressiveness elsewhere.”