Hamilton admits "I didn't have the pace" in Azerbaijan F1 sprint

Hamilton could only finish seventh in the 17-lap sprint race in Azerbaijan - one position lower than where he started. 

The seven-time world champion lost out when battling Carlos Sainz following the Safety Car period.

This allowed Fernando Alonso to get through as Hamilton was off the racing line at Turn 1, dropping to seventh.

The good news for Hamilton is that he will start the main race on Sunday from fifth, ahead of Alonso.

“It wasn't ideal losing the position to Alonso,” Hamilton said. “It's never great going backwards but that's motor racing sometimes. 

“I didn't have the pace of the cars ahead of me, but I know why that is now, from having the Sprint. It's a good indicator of what the problem is in terms of setup, so we'll look into it and hopefully make some improvements tomorrow. 

“It's going to be tough, but anything can happen.”

F1 introduced a revised sprint race format for this weekend’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix with the addition of a second qualifying session.

The second qualifying session on Saturday morning determined the grid for the sprint meaning it’s entirely separate from conventional qualifying (on Friday during a sprint weekend) and the main grand prix (on a Sunday).

Giving his opinion on it, Hamilton enjoyed the additional qualifying session on Saturday morning.

“I like that we're trying something new with this format,” Hamilton said. “The extra qualifying session was fun. 

“The sprint race was less exciting but that's probably because I was struggling.”