Lewis Hamilton reveals what was the biggest surprise for him at the 2023 F1 Azerbaijan GP qualifying

Lewis Hamilton recently summed up his feelings after the 2023 F1 Azerbaijan GP qualifying session on Friday, where he somehow managed a P5 finish after narrowly getting into the Q3 session by finishing P10 in Q2. Apart from his own qualifying session, he was particularly surprised to see the huge pace difference between Mercedes and Red Bull.

Speaking to the media, including Sportskeeda, Hamilton initially spoke about how he struggled in the Q2 session, somehow finishing P10 and staying out of the elimination zone. However, he was happy with his fastest lap in Q3, which placed him in P5. The Briton said:

"Yeah, we're trying as hard as we can. Giving it absolutely everything out there and it just timing and getting into rhythm and really pulling out everything is not easy on this track. I think in Q2, yeah, I struggled. I had more pace, I just didn't get that last lap. My Q3 run round was a really sweet."

Lewis Hamilton added that he did not really expect anything before coming into the race weekend. Though he knew that Red Bull would be extremely quick, he was still surprised to see a massive deficit on the straights.

Hamilton admitted that the Mercedes W14 is slower on the straights and even in the middle sector. He concluded:

"I didn't really know what to expect this weekend. I knew that the Red Bulls would be particularly quick, but I didn't realize we'd have such a huge deficit on the straights. But it's a good, good indicator.

"We're slower on the straights and then slower in the middle sector, so we've got a lot of work to do to rectify that in the car. It's not the easiest one to drive, you know. Yeah, I'm happy to be on the third row, and I think hopefully tomorrow we can have a bit of a better battle."

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Lewis Hamilton received praise from his old rival in F1

Lewis Hamilton has recently been receiving heaps of praise from his old rival, Fernando Alonso. The Spaniard has been praising Hamilton ever since he returned to the sport.

Right before the 2023 F1 Azerbaijan GP race weekend, Alonso spoke about his battles with Hamilton. He said (via racefans):

“It is a very good thing. He’s a legend of our sport. We saw in Australia, I think we spent the whole race within two seconds of distance, playing with the distance a little bit. He has no weak point, he does no mistakes.”

Alonso added:

“He’s a very tough competitor. To beat him, you need always something special. So this is the type of guys that you want to challenge.”

Since these kind words came from Fernando Alonso, many fans are not convinced that they are genuine. This is because he and Lewis Hamilton had a massive rivalry that went on for several years in the late 2000s.