Lewis Hamilton conceded his miserable Azerbaijan Grand Prix qualifying came as "a bit of a shock", although highlighted a failure with Ferrari's "execution" of its tyre strategy as the main factor behind his poor result.
Hamilton was on a high following Friday practice after topping a session for the first time this year, expressing confidence with his car he had previously not felt this season.
The seven-time F1 champion fully expected to be challenging for pole position, only to end up failing to reach Q3 for the fifth time this season, and starting 12th on the Baku Street Circuit grid.
"I'm obviously so disappointed," said Hamilton, speaking to Sky Sports F1. "Yesterday, the car was feeling good. Today, there was some direction that we ended up going, which, on paper, looked like it was the best place for us to be.
"Our pace had been good. We'd been progressing. I was feeling really on it, I didn't make any mistakes. It was just that we didn't have the right tyre on at the end of the day.
"Everyone ahead of me had the medium tyre, but I lost a medium tyre in P2, and the Q2 run-plan schedule, and that put me on the back foot."
Hamilton then confirmed that another set of medium tyres was available in Q2, but because his car did not have enough fuel, he was unable to conduct a hot pit stop for a tyre change and go again.
"I wanted to [come in again] but they said that the warm-up was too long, or something like that, so then we ran out of time and ran out of fuel, so not great," said Hamilton. "We'll take it internal."
Speaking later to the written media, including RacingNews365, he added: "I was on the back foot with only two mediums, thinking of running two mediums in Q3, but you've got to get to Q3 first.
"Ultimately, just not the best execution, so definitely disappointed. I honestly thought I was going to be fighting for the top two, I thought I might be able to get pole, and I've not felt that all year, so it's kind of a bit of a shock.
"So it's definitely tough to be P12, and I don't think that's from my driving. It's just execution.
"I'll take it on the chin and keep trying."
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