Hamilton sixth after Ferrari changes qualifying plan

Lewis Hamilton qualified sixth for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix after Ferrari changed its plan for the final qualifying segment, leaving him without a car ahead to provide a tow. His teammate Charles Leclerc qualified second, while Mercedes driver George Russell took pole position. Hamilton said tyre difficulties also affected his pace, but the available accounts do not establish how much each factor contributed to his result. Hamilton said Ferrari switched to a single run in the decisive Q3 session after using a different plan earlier in qualifying. He said he had expected to be behind other cars but instead found himself with no one ahead to provide a slipstream, while he was towing Leclerc toward the finish line. Leclerc benefited from the tow on his final run. The change came after Hamilton said Ferrari had struggled to get its tyres working throughout the session, particularly the rear tyres in Q2. He described his qualifying pace as worsening across the three segments. Hamilton’s account linked the lack of a tow and tyre performance to his difficulty, but no independent assessment of their separate effects was reported. Hamilton finished more than 1.