Mercedes honcho Toto Wolff comforts Lewis Hamilton on team radio after a “horror race” in Azerbaijan 

Lewis Hamilton endured a tough afternoon in the Azerbaijan GP, taking the checkered flag in ninth-place having started the race from the pitlane. The seven-time champion struggled to make his way through the field but managed to secure points, benefitting from a wreck involving front-runners.

Hamilton was set to start the race from seventh position, but Mercedes opted to take new power unit elements beyond the allocation, due to an engine failure earlier this season. As a result, the 39-year-old began the race from the pitlane alongside Esteban Ocon.

Lewis Hamilton started the race on medium tires but found himself stuck battling the Alpine cars during his first stint. His switch to hard tires in the second stint didn’t improve matters, as he was then locked in a tough fight with rookies Ollie Bearman and Franco Colapinto, outside the points-paying positions.

A late-race crash between Sergio Perez and Carlos Sainz allowed the veteran Mercedes driver to secure a P9 finish. Team boss Toto Wolff consoled the 39-year-old Briton, acknowledging the "horror race".

"Lewis, good to make it to the end. It was a horror race. I can so relate to it, we can all relate to it. At least we have taken the penalty now. Let’s move forward." he said over the radio.

Lewis Hamilton's race engineer, Peter Bonnington, acknowledged the frustration, as Hamilton had aired his struggles about the handling of the W15 throughout the race.

"Lewis well done mate. That was P9, but yeah, understand the frustration." he said.

McLaren driver Oscar Piastri won the race ahead of Charles Leclerc, while George Russell capitalized on Sergio Perez and Carlos Sainz's collision to clinch the final podium position, ahead of Lando Norris and Max Verstappen.

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Lewis Hamilton's qualifying woes continued in the Azerbaijan GP

Lewis Hamilton, the 104-time F1 pole sitter, was left perplexed by his qualifying performance on Saturday, where he was four-tenths of a second slower than his teammate George Russell. He was baffled by the sudden drop in pace from practice to qualifying, attributing the loss in performance to the tires. Speaking to Sky Sports F1, Hamilton voiced his disappointment as he said:

"Same Saturday as always. The same thing that happens every Saturday. Yesterday the car was amazing, felt great. I honestly think it could have been at least second row today. Came today, all of a sudden tires don't work at all, all day," Hamilton said.

Hamilton took on a new engine and made specific setup changes, hoping for a better performance on Sunday. However, these adjustments did not pay off, as the veteran driver continued to struggle with the car's handling and found himself battling with the Haas and Williams drivers throughout the race.

Lewis Hamilton currently holds sixth place in the driver's standings with 166 points, sitting ahead of his Mercedes teammate George Russell, who has 143 points.