Frustrated Hamilton had to “yank” the steering wheel in Baku comeback race

Lewis Hamilton says he had to “yank” the steering wheel to overcome crippling balance issues with his Mercedes in Formula 1’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

Hamilton qualified seventh on Saturday after a difficult qualifying session, explaining Mercedes had found one of its car components was “not correctly built” and led him up the wrong set-up direction.

His lowly qualifying position prompted Mercedes’ decision to fit him with a new power unit for the race. Following a suspension set-up change, Hamilton started from the pitlane and managed to climb to ninth at the finish, but only after a late clash between Sergio Perez and Carlos Sainz and a late move on Haas’ Nico Hulkenberg. 

Despite the comeback, the seven-time world champion endured a frustrating afternoon in which he was seen fighting the Mercedes to get around the Baku street circuit’s tight 90-degree bends.

On the team radio Hamilton mentioned his unorthodox driving style, saying: “Do you see how I’m driving this thing?”

It was a reference to his huge handling issues, which appeared despite only making small car changes after a more positive Friday.

“It was probably the worst balance I have ever had,” Hamilton said. “I had so much front end and no rear.

“I had to yank the steering to break the traction at the front and slide it through every corner. It was the weirdest way to drive.

“I knew we would not be able to overtake today. It is one of those tracks. I don’t know why our pace was so bad from our side from Saturday.”

After losing an engine in Australia, Hamilton was due an engine penalty at some stage this season, and Mercedes chief Toto Wolff explains that the team decided to take it in Baku because it is even more difficult to pass in Singapore, and the team has high hopes for the following round in Austin.

“We decided to do the engine change here and we knew that it was going to be a race of misery, because it’s so difficult to overtake in Baku,” Wolff said.

“And that’s what it was. The moment you come closer, you overheat the tyres and then you go backwards.

“There were two different philosophies and we discussed it at length. You just swallow the pill here, because starting from P7 we didn’t know where that would have gone, or you do it in Austin. But we feel that Austin is an opportunity, so that was the decision. Right or wrong I don’t know. It was a close call.”

Toto…