Lewis Hamilton at the Azerbaijan GP. Photo: Race Pictures.

Hamilton reveals big Azerbaijan GP target despite P12 start

12:55, 21 Sep

bySamson Ero

Lewis Hamilton has revealed his target for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. The Scuderia Ferrari driver has stressed he has his sights set on a podium finish at the Baku Street race.

Lewis Hamilton. Photo: Race Pictures

“Get into the top three. That's been my goal.”

- Lewis Hamilton

The British driver, who appeared to have kicked off the race weekend on of positive note, witnessed his fortunes spiral into a disastrous outing when he suffered an elimination in the second round of qualifying. Hamilton, who appeared to be on used tyres, failed to clock a lap time quick enough to advance to the final stages of qualifying.

However, despite his Q2 elimination, the seven-time champion appears anything but deterred by his outing. During his interaction with the media, Hamilton detailed that he has his goal is to claim a top-three finish for Ferrari.

“I'm really hoping my pace was decent in Q2. My pace was the quickest. So I'm really hoping tomorrow [Sunday] that we've got this pace, we've got the straight line speed, we should hopefully be able to fight guys.”

“So much can happen here with safety cars and all sorts of strategy can really come into play. So I'm just going to come into it as optimistic as possible. I'm still going to try and get into the top three. That's been my goal.”

Lewis Hamilton at the Azerbaijan GP

Lewis Hamilton boasts fond memories of racing at the Azerbaijan street race. The former Mercedes driver clinched a race victory during the 2018 edition of the race. Last time out, in 2024, he could only muster up a ninth-place finish during the race.

In any instance, the 40-year-old claims a podium finish, it will mark his first since his seismic switch to the Scuderia Ferrari team ahead of the 2025 campaign.

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