“I can’t be with them.” By radio Lewis Hamilton after losing the lead of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix race and slipping into third position after the pit stop behind Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez, he underlined the great difficulty in staying in the exhausts of the Mexican to then take advantage of the power unit and wake in the third sector to the finish. Lewis Hamilton has never seriously worried Checo and seemed destined to drop to -15 in the standings compared to Max Verstappen, launched towards victory and owner of the fastest lap. The burst of the left rear tire forced the Dutchman to retire, the first of the season, but Hamilton also left Baku empty-handed due to an error with the brake distributor command when restarting from a standstill.
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The British driver underlined that Red Bull was significantly faster than Mercedes in Baku: “At this moment it is clear that Red Bull is the fastest car – the words of the seven-time world champion and reigning champion reported by the English newspaper Crash.net – it is very difficult to be able to equalize their level. On the one hand, it was exciting to be able to compete and fight with them in that situation and it was a real shame to come out empty-handed, but these are mistakes that can happen ”.
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For the first time Sergio Perez he was a real factor for Red Bull in the race, playing as squire for Verstappen in a perfect way and seizing the success after the Dutchman’s retirement. Hamilton is aware that he will often have to deal with both drivers of the Milton Keynes stable: “Their car is incredibly fast and I have no doubt that both Verstappen and Perez will make my life difficult. We have expected this since the beginning of the year and we will continue to keep our heads down ”.
