29 April 2023 , 10:24
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Lewis Hamilton qualified fifth for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix – but after inadvertently knocking his Mercedes team-mate George Russell out of the session.
Russell was unlucky to not make the top 10 in qualifying on Friday, missing out by just four-thousandths of a second. That tiny margin was to Hamilton, who had also struggled for pace in Q2 but just scraped through.
The seven-time world champion fared better in the final part of the session and will start Sunday's race fifth on the grid. But Russell had to settle for 11th and has been left with a lot of work to do if he is to take home a significant number of points.
Russell was knocked out by Oscar Piastri, who did enough on his final lap to leapfrog the Brit into the top 10. The Aussie benefitted from a tow down the long main straight in Baku by none other than Hamilton, who inadvertently played a role in knocking his own team-mate out.
"I doubt that was intentional," said Sky Sports pundit Naomi Schiff in reference to the part Hamilton played in Russell's poor result. She added: "The timing of when you hit the lead man here is, of course, very important on this track."
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Russell, usually an optimist, had a pretty bleak message to send as he reacted to the result after the session. "Well, we are just not fast enough this weekend," he said – clearly frustrated after Mercedes were much improved last time out in Melbourne.
Lewis Hamilton managed to go fifth fastest after almost failing to reach Q3 himself (Getty Images)"Obviously, I would love to be in Q3 but I was giving it everything. I think right now we wouldn't really know what to change to find the pace we need around this track. We will see what we can do tomorrow, I will try hard to try and improve my driving and try to work with the team to see what we can do to come back stronger."
And the message Hamilton wanted to get across was just how tough it still is to tame the W14. He said: "We're trying as hard as we can. We've given it absolutely everything out there and it's just timing and getting into the rhythm and really pulling out everything is not easy on this track.
"Everyone's working as hard as they can so we haven't had an upgrade this weekend, but we are working towards one that will hopefully put us a little closer to the battle ahead. The car is not the easiest one to drive but I'm happy to be on the third row hopefully tomorrow we can have a better battle."