Lewis Hamilton achieved a decent fourth place in Baku, but was in no mood to celebrate. It's just that the seven-time champion suffered from back pain after bouncing so much on the huge straight of the Azeri street circuit
Lewis Hamilton complained on the radio of intense back pain and got out of the car all bent up after the Baku round of Formula 1. This Sunday (12), the seven-time champion came fourth in the Azerbaijan GP, but drew much more attention by the problems in his lower back due to so many bumps on the main straight of the Azeri circuit. So much so that Toto Wolff, Mercedes' boss, immediately apologized for the drama.
After dragging himself out of the car, Hamilton couldn't even properly explain the extent of the pain he felt in Baku, but he summed it up by saying he just wished it would all be over as soon as possible.
"I was on adrenaline, but I can't express the pain you feel, especially on the straight here. You just keep praying for it to be over. I'll be at the factory tomorrow, we need to talk about it to keep evouding it," he said.
Lewis entered the race fearful of not even completing it because of the pain he felt during the other sessions. After the final flag, Wolff, the team boss, got on the radio to apologize to his driver.
"Lewis, we know you look like shit to drive this, I'm sorry about your back. We will fix it," said the Austrian.
The seven-time champion also made an analysis of the race. For Hamilton, Mercedes' pace is there, the point is that the stints are keeping the team from a more realistic fight with the leading pack.
"We put ourselves in a good position here with third and fourth places. The team has done a good job on the strategy, and when we solve this problem of the quiques, we will be in contention. It's just that we are losing more than 1s with this problem," he added.
Hamilton is in sixth place in the Drivers' World Championship, with 62 points. Meanwhile, George Russell, the Mercedes teammate who was on the podium in Baku, has 99.
Formula 1 returns next weekend with the Canadian GP, the ninth round of the season. Hamilton therefore has 5 days to recover until free practice.