Ferrari denied Lewis Hamilton wish as Brit in 'shock' after Azerbaijan GP qualifying exit

Lewis Hamilton described his early qualifying elimination at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix as a 'shock'. The 40-year-old revealed after the session that Ferrari opted not to fulfil his request to make a quick pit-stop at the end of the session to refuel and head out for another run. The seven-time world champion will start Sunday's race from 12th on the grid after failing to escape the elimination zone in Q2.

The Brit showed immense pace throughout practice at the Baku City Circuit on Friday and entered Saturday's qualifying session expecting to fight McLaren's drivers and Max Verstappen for pole position. This promise evaporated in Q2, and Hamilton now faces another weekend of damage limitation as he fights to salvage points from outside of the top 10.

"Honestly, I'm so disappointed," Hamilton told Sky Sports F1. "Yesterday, the car was feeling good. Today, there was a direction that we ended up going that, on paper, looked like it was the best place for us to be. Ultimately, our pace has been good, we've been progressing, and I was feeling really on it, didn't make any mistakes or go down any exit roads.

"It's just that we didn't have the right tyre on at the end. Everyone ahead of me basically had the medium tyre on. But I lost a medium tyre in FP2 due to our run plan schedule, and that put me on the back foot."

Asked if he had the option to come in for a race-style pit-stop and head back out for another run, he explained: "I had one, but the choice wasn't taken to take it. I wanted to, but they said the warm-up was too long or something like that, so then we'd have run out of time and fuel.

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"So, not great. There have been lots of positives, and I honestly thought I would be shooting for pole today. So it's come as a bit of a shock, but I'll take it on the chin and keep trying."

Ferrari's disappointment wasn't limited to the No.44 car. Hamilton's team-mate Charles Leclerc crashed hard into the wall at Turn 15 on his first Q3 lap, denying him a chance to score a fifth Baku pole position.

The Monegasque racer wasn't the only frontrunner who found the barriers in Q3, either. Drivers' Championship leader Oscar Piastri suffered a heavy shunt at Turn Three, handing rival and team-mate Lando Norris a shot at a critical result in the title fight. The Brit couldn't make his McLaren colleague pay, though, going only seventh-fastest with his final effort.