Lewis Hamilton turned on an old nemesis to underline what has so far been a difficult Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
Hamilton will start from sixth on the grid at the Baku City Circuit after finishing a staggering 1.3s behind lightning polesitter George Russell, and half a second adrift of Ferrari team-mate, Charles Leclerc, who joins the Mercedes driver on the front row.
The seven-time F1 champion conceded after qualifying that he has "been struggling all weekend to get the tyres working".
In trying to get heat into the Pirelli rubber ahead of his only push lap in Q3, Hamilton, speaking to the media, including RacingNews365, said: "I was weaving to try and save my life, and I still couldn't get these stupid tyres working", before letting out a chuckle.
More seriously, he added: "They're such a pain in the ass. We need to bring back some good tyres."
[Article continues below]
Hamilton queries Ferrari run plan
Hamilton felt he was additionally compromised by Ferrari's late change of plan to only go for the one hot lap in Q3.
"Q1 was pretty okay," he said. "I felt the car wasn't too bad. In Q2, I started struggling even more with the rear tyres.
"After Q2, they decided to change the run plan and just do one run, which...I hadn't foreseen the fact that I would come out with no one ahead of me and just towing Charles the whole time."
Despite Leclerc's performance in claiming a front-row start, Hamilton feels Ferrari can only claim to have the third-quickest car in Baku behind Mercedes and Red Bull.
Surprisingly, Isack Hadjar, on his return to Red Bull after missing the last three races with a wrist injury, out-qualified Verstappen and will start fourth, four places ahead of the four-time champion, who later indicated he had an engine problem.
Hamilton feels it will be hard for him to make progress.
"Charles did a really good job," said Hamilton. "Right at the end, I gave him a really good tow all the way to the start line.
"But it'll be hard to overtake any other cars who are more competitive."
Get the latest F1 news from RacingNews365 directly in your Google feed! Click on the link below and you’ll see your favourite F1 website appearing even more often. That way, you’ll never miss any news, analyses, interviews, or exclusives.
Follow RacingNews365 on GoogleMost read
In this article
Never miss a thing from the Formula 1 season! Add the 2026 F1 schedule to your calendar at the touch of a button. Subscribe below and put the dates and times of every race directly on your PC or smartphone, so you don't miss a second from the new season.
Download the F1 calendar Download the F1 calendar
A variant with just the race and qualifying is also available.
Click here to download it..
Join the conversation!