“I just wanted more power” - Lewis Hamilton explains his radio message to Mercedes and why he couldn't overtake Carlos Sainz

Lewis Hamilton explained that his radio message to Peter Bonnington asking for more power was out of frustration at being stuck behind Carlos Sainz in the Azerbaijan GP. The Mercedes champion believes that the shortened DRS straight compromised his ability to overtake the Ferrari car ahead.

Asked by Sportskeeda to clarify his radio interaction with his engineer, Hamilton explained:

“Nothing went wrong. I just wanted more power. As a driver always want more power. I think ultimately they just shortened the DRS down the straight. I don’t know why they quite did that, we’ve always had great racing where the DRS was, but (now), you switch the DRS on, it is too late. Was there a lot of overtaking today? There you go.”

On whether his car felt draggy while he was stuck behind the Ferrari, the Briton said:

“Yeah just I think they were just a bit more quicker on the straights than us. Even with the DRS open, he was fast down the straights. So I think, and then just following through the last, mid sector was not easy. But I gave it everything.”

Explaining his radio message to Bonnington, Lewis Hamilton said he was just asking for more power down the straights as most drivers do.

He expressed his frustrations at being stuck behind Sainz for the majority of the race and mentioned that the shortened DRS straight did not help. He believes that by the time the straight would run out, the DRS was activated.

The seven-time world champion felt that following the Ferrari was easy but they were quicker even without the DRS open.

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Lewis Hamilton rues frustrating weekend but is positive about getting more pace out of the car in the future

Lewis Hamilton in action

Frustrated with an underwhelming weekend, Lewis Hamilton was not satisfied with his overall result in the Azerbaijan GP. Getting caught out by the safety car and strategy made him lose positions and did not help him after a poor performance in the sprint the previous day.

However, he believes his confidence is building and the pace of their car is expected to improve.

“Naturally, there is so much work that goes into the weekend. Yesterday was a difficult day and where you went backwards and then today, I was hoping for better day and I lost so many places. I lost five places or whatever it was and that is definitely a kick in the teeth, but then it is what it is. I think today shows the hunger is there. Once I get that confidence in that car, that pace will come.”

Summarizing the weekend and what to expect, the Briton said:

“I’m continuously proud of my team for just keeping down their head and work. We didn’t have what we had in the last race, which is obviously not the greatest. But there is no lack of motivation in this team, they are all super hungry. We are all just working towards getting those upgrades. So I think this is the beginning of hopefully something better.”

Mounting his expectations on the next set of upgrades, Lewis Hamilton is hoping that his car improves. He believes Mercedes is motivated enough to be able to turn around their performance this season. The British champion finished sixth in the race, ahead of his teammate George Russell, who finished eighth.