‘All smoke and mirrors’ – what may have happened to Lewis Hamilton in Baku

The Azerbaijan Grand Prix seemed to be somewhat of a predictable affair for a city street circuit that had all their ‘ducks in order’, so to say.

Despite Lance Stroll’s rather alarming tyre failure two thirds of a way into the race, it all seemed to be going according to plan for Red Bull Racing with Max Verstappen leading from teammate Sergio Perez and Lewis Hamilton in third.

Then, another unexpected tyre failure put the leader out of the race. A restart and one lap sprint finish was certain to provide drama aplenty. Yet it was a totally unexpected scenario when Hamilton seemed to brake far too late into the corner in an attempt to regain the lead, running off into the escape road.

It seemed an elementary error for a seven-time world champion, who only really needed to maintain position to regain a healthy lead of the championship. Upon stepping from the car, Hamilton revealed there may have been a little bit more to play than merely out braking himself…

Here, regular Motorsport Tech columnist Craig Scarborough tells Peter Windsor what might really have happened regarding that rush to the first corner.

Watch more tech insights with Craig Scarborough and Peter Windsor on YouTube here.