‘I’ve found a couple of things’ - Lewis Hamilton teases Ferrari progress

Lewis Hamilton is feeling optimistic heading into the Azerbaijan Grand Prix after feeling like he has made progress with Ferrari’s car.

The seven-time world champion arrives in Baku with a boost of confidence after taking encouraging positives from the two races following F1’s summer break which included a first Italian Grand Prix as a Ferrari driver.

Hamilton, who finished sixth at Monza, felt he made solid progress in trying to get on top of Ferrari’s SF-25 and revealed he has “found a couple of things” to work on extracting this weekend.

“A win is a bit far-fetched considering I’ve been 6th, 7th and 8th for most of the season. I would love to get a podium for the team at some stage as Charles has had four or five of them,” Hamilton, who is yet to achieve a grand prix podium for Ferrari, said on Thursday.

“I feel optimistic coming into the weekend, I feel like I’ve found a couple of things and now I need to work on extracting them. So I really hope that this weekend can be the start of that.”

Hamilton has eight races left of his first campaign with Ferrari to maintain his record of finishing on the podium in every one of his 18 seasons in F1.

Other than claiming a pole position and victory in the China sprint race, it has been a forgettable first year with Ferrari for Hamilton, who has experienced considerably more lows than highs.

The 40-year-old Briton has been comprehensively outperformed by teammate Charles Leclerc, who is 46 points clear of Hamilton in the drivers’ championship after 16 out of 24 races.

Is a better Baku weekend in store?

Hamilton is hoping for a better weekend in Azerbaijan and thinks Ferrari’s 2025 challenger has attributes that are stronger than the previous Mercedes cars he has driven at the street circuit.

“This weekend, a much different car than I’ve ever driven here before, so I’m excited to see how that feels and what I can get from it,” he said.

Asked what way is the car different, Hamilton responded: “This car is a lot different.

“I think it has a lot more mechanical grip and is a lot softer than the cars I have driven in the past [here].”

Hamilton has won the Azerbaijan Grand Prix just once in 2018 and has only finished on the podium in Baku on one other occasion. 

Last year proved to be a particularly frustrating race for Hamilton, who struggled to make up ground from the back of the grid after an engine penalty and could only take ninth.