Lewis Hamilton says Charles Leclerc would have led an easy 1-2 for Ferrari had things been different in Baku.
The Monegasque had been the man to beat all through practice in Azerbaijan but threw it away in qualifying as he crashed at Turn 8 during Q2.
That in turn allowed Mercedes to “trick” Ferrari and Sebastian Vettel in Q3, before going on to take their own 1-2 finish in the race.
“Our estimates are Vettel would have been two-tenths quicker than Valtteri [Bottas] if he’d had the tow that, for example, we had,” Hamilton told RaceFans.
“On top of that Leclerc was always two-tenths quicker than him all weekend.”
The reason many point to as the cause of Charles’ crash though, was a call by the Italian team to try and make the top 10 using the medium compound tyre.
“Having looked back I’m not surprised [that they attempted the medium run],” Hamilton continued.
“I think he [Leclerc] had the pace to get through on that tyre and if he had got through on that tyre and qualified in Q3, he would have been on pole.”
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Leclerc would start of the more durable tyre as his first lap before hitting the barrier was fast enough to be inside the cut-off point for the top 10.
And his early charge through the field to catch and pass Vettel just as the German pitted, backs up what Hamilton said next.
“There are races that we go to that if you can get through on the harder tyre, it is better. Especially in a race like that where the start distance is so short, the benefit of a softer tyre is minimised.
“So if he [Leclerc] had started [at the front] on that tyre we would not have seen him. He would have disappeared as we all struggled on the soft tyre throughout the race.”
