The 2025 Azerbaijan Grand Prix weekend witnessed a dramatic and deeply disappointing turn of events for the Ferrari team, particularly for superstar driver Lewis Hamilton. After showing incredibly promising signs during the practice sessions, any hope of a fight at the front of the grid evaporated into thin air when Hamilton was shockingly eliminated in Q2 of the qualifying round. This stunning development has left a significant scar on Ferrari’s challenging season and raised serious questions about the Italian team’s tire strategy.

Baku: A Crushing Blow to Shattered Hopes

Before heading into the qualifying session, Lewis Hamilton was brimming with confidence. His Ferrari, after weeks of struggling with frustrations and a lack of pace, finally seemed to have found the stability and speed it desperately needed. In the FP2 session, Hamilton had set the leading pace, providing a powerful and positive signal that Baku could be the turning point for both him and the team. He even dared to believe that a pole position might be within his grasp. “Honestly, I thought I was going to be fighting for the top three today. I thought I might be able to get pole today. That’s how much—I’ve not felt that all year,” Hamilton shared, reflecting a startling and welcome change in his mindset after a season filled with hardship at Ferrari.

However, the harsh reality of the Baku City Circuit dealt a severe blow to that newfound belief. The qualifying session did not go according to plan. A session repeatedly interrupted by red flags, combined with the complexities of Pirelli’s new tire allocations, created an intensely challenging environment. Ferrari, in a crucial, split-second decision, made a disastrous tire choice that left Hamilton at a crippling disadvantage.

The Fatal Tire Decision: A Decisive Mistake

The heart of the disappointment lay in the decision to use the softer C6 tires during Q2. With Pirelli introducing a softer range of tires for the weekend, including the rarely seen experimental C6 compound, every team was scrambling to understand the behavior of the new rubber. Following a lengthy red flag stoppage, Ferrari gambled with its strategy. Charles Leclerc was fitted with the medium C5s, while Hamilton rolled the dice on the softer C6s.

That call proved to be fateful on a circuit notorious for its brutal braking zones and relentless changes of direction. The overly soft C6 tires began to overheat at the slightest slide, forcing Hamilton to fight the tires more than the clock. Ultimately, he clocked a time nearly eight-tenths of a second slower than Lando Norris’s provisional benchmark. “Honestly, I’m so disappointed. Yesterday, the car was feeling good. Today, there was some direction that we ended up going which, on paper, looked like it was the best place for us to be. Ultimately, our pace had been good, we’d been progressing, I was feeling really on it. It was just that we didn’t have the right tire on at the end, and it’s tough,” Hamilton stated with bitter disappointment.

He further explained how losing a set of medium tires during FP2 due to their run plan had put him on the back foot. “Everyone ahead of me basically had the medium tire on, but I lost a medium in FP2 due to our run plan, and that put me on the back foot,” Hamilton explained. “I wanted to use the medium, but they said the warm-up was too long or something like that, so we ran out of time and then ran out of fuel. Not great, but we’ll take it.”

As the session neared its conclusion, Leclerc managed to claw his way into the top 10 with a sharp lap, while Hamilton was shuffled down to 11th, his qualifying campaign cut short in the most frustrating fashion imaginable.

Leclerc’s Misfortune: A Cascade of Failure for Ferrari

It wasn’t just Hamilton who faced adversity. On the other side of the garage, things didn’t go smoothly for Charles Leclerc either. The frustration was written all over the Monegasque driver’s face after a costly crash ended his qualifying run in Baku. Leclerc openly owned up to the mistake in front of the cameras, apologizing after a dramatic session that leaves him starting from 10th and facing a daunting recovery mission on Sunday.

Leclerc admitted that the medium tires were simply not working for them as temperatures dropped. “The rain did not affect our performance at all,” he told reporters. “It was purely my mistake, definitely, there is no excuse. The medium tire simply wasn’t working today, and we struggled incredibly. After yesterday, it seemed that Lewis Hamilton was performing well with that compound, but today the temperatures dropped, and we didn’t manage to get the tires in the right operating window.”

Before his mistake, he was still 0.8 seconds behind the leaders. The softer tire was performing better, but it needed to be saved for the final lap. Despite being reminded of Daniel Ricciardo’s famous victory in Baku in 2017 after starting from 10th, Leclerc remained pragmatic. He acknowledged the comparison but stressed that today’s grid and car dynamics make such a charge far more difficult.

Leclerc admitted that while anything is possible on the streets of Baku, the reality is that Ferrari will need more than just optimism; they will need flawless execution and a bit of fortune if he is to replicate Ricciardo’s feat. Max Verstappen and the McLarens have more race pace, and starting from the front provides a huge advantage. “It will be extremely difficult to replicate what Daniel did, but we will try our best tomorrow,” Leclerc concluded.

Hamilton’s Glimmer of Hope for Race Day

Despite facing a start from 12th place—an unfamiliar position for a seven-time world champion—Lewis Hamilton maintained a surprisingly optimistic outlook. He believes his race pace remains strong and could help him move up through the field during the main race. “I’ve really felt on it. This is a great race, this one, so I’m really hoping my pace was decent. On P2 race pace, we were quickest, so I’m really hoping tomorrow that we’ve got decent pace, good straight-line speed. We should hopefully be able to fight cars,” Hamilton said.

He is also keenly aware of the chaos that the Baku circuit can produce, with the high probability of safety cars and other strategic variables. “So much can happen here with safety cars and all sorts of strategy can really come into play, so I’m just going to come into it as optimistic as possible, and I’m still going to try and get into the top three,” he affirmed, setting a high goal despite the circumstances.

This shift in Hamilton’s outlook marks a dramatic turn for a driver who has grown accustomed to disappointment week after week with Ferrari, having not secured a single podium this season. “Yes, but P2 was my best P2 of the whole year, so I was really feeling positive,” Hamilton said. “I know exactly all the places that have gone wrong in the background, so that’s a positive. We know exactly where those are, and I know now what to do moving forward to make sure that doesn’t happen again.”

The Challenge Ahead: Ferrari’s Fight for Survival

Tomorrow’s race in Baku looms as a daunting test for Ferrari, with both Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton forced into comeback mode on one of Formula 1’s most punishing street circuits. Strategy calls, tire management, and split-second precision will decide whether the Scuderia can claw back from Saturday’s disappointment.

Despite the setback, Leclerc has made it clear he won’t be backing down, determined to turn damage into points. He’s ready to fight tooth and nail to salvage a result for Ferrari. Hamilton’s dream turned into a nightmare in Baku, but the race could flip everything. With the potential for safety cars, strategic chaos, and the unpredictable nature of Baku, the race promises to deliver unpredictable drama. Whether Ferrari can recover from a weekend filled with tactical blunders and unforgettable moments of failure remains to be seen.