Lewis Hamilton has urged Ferrari to improve operationally following the bitter disappointment of his Azerbaijan Grand Prix weekend.
Following Friday practice and topping a session for the first time this season since his move to the Scuderia, Hamilton went into qualifying believing he had a genuine shot at pole position.
The seven-time F1 champion, however, failed to even escape Q2 due to a mix-up over the tyres, leaving him a miserable 12th on the grid, two places behind team-mate Charles Leclerc after the Monégasque crashed early in Q3.
By the chequered flag, due to lengthy periods being stuck in DRS trains, Hamilton was eighth, a place ahead of Leclerc after failing to hand back a position graciously given to him in a bid to close down Liam Lawson, Yuki Tsunoda and Lando Norris, to no avail.
Hamilton described himself as "not good" after the race when asked how he was feeling.
As to why, speaking to Sky Sports F1, he said: "A disappointing result. I was feeling so optimistic through practice. After P2, I honestly felt so good in the car, but we then took the wrong direction.
"Ultimately, our pace in the race was just not on par with the guys ahead of us, but qualifying was clearly so important if you look at where the Williams [of Carlos Sainz] was [in second]. They did a great job. Congratulations to them. What an amazing result.
"I'm happy I moved forward from 12th, but I don't really care less about the position."
The overriding concern for Hamilton was the fact that he and Leclerc were on the wrong tyres at the wrong time in Q2, even if the latter did escape, but a move which heavily compromised the British driver.
"Internally, we'll go and have a look and see what we could have done differently," said Hamilton.
"Operationally, we could have done a better job, and so that's something we need to work on.
"I felt like I made progress. Out of our cars, my pace was decent, but the others were just rapid, and it was so hard to overtake.
"It was an unusual Baku race, with not much overtaking, and it was really hard to follow, so definitely disappointed to come away with nothing."
Also interesting:
Join RacingNews365's Ian Parkes, Sam Coop and Nick Golding, as they look back on the Azerbaijan Grand Prix! Oscar Piastri's shock Baku crashes are a major talking point, as is whether Max Verstappen has drawn himself back into the F1 title fight.
Rather watch the podcast? Then click here!
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