After a mellow race in Monaco, Baku came as an unexpected surprise for Formula 1 fans.
With just four laps to go, Red Bull driver Max Verstappen ended up crashing out after a blown tyre. This led to red flags being waved.
The race began with a standing start which then caused a series of unfortunate events for Lewis Hamilton that pushed him from P2 to the very last place.
What exactly happened?
Just as the race restarted, Hamilton found himself head to head with Sergio Perez. But just as all the cars were heading into turn 1, the Brit drove straight ahead into the escape area.
“I clipped a switch, and it basically switches the brakes off. So I just went straight,” Hamilton explained.
“So very hard to take, but mostly just sorry for the men and women in the team that have worked so hard. But we’ll regroup and come back stronger.”
Toto Wolff elaborates
Mercedes team boss, Toto Wolff, explained that it was not exactly the brakes that turned off. It would be naive to have such a switch in the car.
According to Wolff, what Hamilton was trying to say was that he hit the brake balance switch by mistake.
“He touched the button that the brake balance changed and the brake balance went all the way forward and the car didn’t stop,” he said.
Had Hamilton won this race, he would have created a 21 point gap with Verstappen and would be in the lead even after losing to Perez.
Bottas had it rough
The other Mercedes driver Valtteri Bottas had one of his worst races too.
Even though he finished ahead of Lewis, he still crossed the chequered flag at P12; something he might want to forget soon.
While Hamilton was battling it out in the front, the Finn remained in P10 for the majority of the first half.
After Stroll’s crash, things got worse for him as he dropped up to P14.
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