F1 pundit James Hinchcliffe has praised Lewis Hamilton for his efficiency throughout the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, claiming he’s “beginning to discover his groove”.
Hamilton recovered from a disappointing Q2 exit to complete eighth in Baku.
The seven-time world champion was eradicated early in qualifying after Ferrari didn’t give him recent rubber for his remaining Q2 effort.
Up till qualifying, Hamilton had seemed comfy across the Baku streets.
To Hamilton’s credit score, he’s confirmed to be a more in-depth match to Charles Leclerc because the summer time break.
His crash at Zandvoort and grid penalty at Monza have masked his true progress.
Talking on the F1 Nation podcast, Hinchcliffe noticed a extra assured Hamilton in Azerbaijan.
Hinchcliffe stated: “eighth and ninth simply looks like such a clear end result. Like, it’s a little bit of a footnote. However in a race the place we have been anticipating quite a lot of the out of place vehicles to make large floor and virtually none of them did, Hamilton from twelfth to eighth and beating Leclerc, that may have been one of many drives of the day.
“It was type of hidden and probably not talked about. Clearly, Max, clearly, Carlos, clearly, George. However I feel behind that, Hamilton’s drive – he truly made some progress.
“He beat his teammate. He was a lot extra assured in his race automobile this weekend. He visibly seemed lighter and extra enthusiastic and happier to be on the racetrack than he has for fairly a while.”
A breakthrough for Hamilton?
Lewis Hamilton’s difficulties with this 12 months’s Ferrari have been effectively documented.
The British driver hasn’t been pleased with the brakes, given Ferrari run Brembo quite than Carbon Industrie.
Lewis Hamilton
Moreover, Hamilton has careworn how totally different the Ferrari is to drive in comparison with Mercedes, making each weekend a dive into the unknown.
Hinchcliffe is hopeful that this potential breakthrough for Hamilton interprets for the ultimate seven races of the 12 months.
“I actually, really hope that no matter it’s they discovered, as a result of we’ve seen this on in classes perhaps over the past half the 12 months and perhaps over a day, nevertheless it’s by no means over a weekend,” he added.
“He actually carried that optimism all weekend lengthy, even after the poor qualifying, going into the race, he was nonetheless optimistic he might make some floor up.
“Comparatively talking, he did. I actually hope that no matter they discovered interprets to different racetracks as a result of Hamilton’s beginning to discover his groove in that automobile. That’s – that’s thrilling for everyone.”
