“He’s washed!!”: Fans react to Lewis Hamilton being eliminated in Q2 during the F1 Azerbaijan GP qualifying 

Lewis Hamilton got knocked out in Q2 during the qualifying for the Azerbaijan GP, as he qualified 12th for the race. Witnessing this, fans took to social media and slammed the Briton for his subpar qualifying result.

Ferrari looked strong on pace during the early part of the weekend, as Hamilton had topped the FP2 session. Though it is reckoned by many that the Italian giants run lighter fuel loads at the start of the weekend, distorting the performance figures early on, Ferrari were assumed to have both of its cars in Q3 to continue their fight for second place in the constructors' standings.

However, one of the prancing horses, which was guided by Hamilton, was knocked out in Q2. Such a performance amidst the Brit's topsy-turvy form during qualifying in the past few race weekends led fans to take to the social media and share their opinions:

"Ye he's washed!! This just proves it." "I mean Leclerc ruined our first lap but he is bad for a while now, nobody to blame but himself," one fan wrote. "Disappointing as normal. Man Lewis just can’t catch a break can he?"

Fans further added:

"Gutted 😥," one netizen wrote. "Embarrassing yet again," another netizen wrote. "He’s so gone, I hope he retires before he ruins his legacy," a third netizen shared.

Meanwhile, Lewis Hamilton is slated to start 12th on the grid if no other hurdles appear in the Brit's path on the raceday.

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Lewis Hamilton shares his thoughts on getting knocked out in Q2

Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton during the qualifying for the 2025 F1 Grand Prix of Azerbaijan - Source: Getty

Lewis Hamilton was on soft tires while his rivals were putting their laptimes on the harder, but more temperature-manageable medium tire. This ultimately appeared to be the reason that the seven-time champion was knocked out due to his slightly different run plans.

Hamilton then revealed how this was the major issue that held him back, as he told Sky Sports F1:

"Honestly, so disappointed. Yesterday the car was feeling good; today, there was some direction we ended up going, which on paper looked like it was the best place for us to be. I mean, our pace had been good, we've been progressing, I was feeling really really on it; didn't make any mistakes. Didn't see down any exit roads, it was just that we didn't have the right tyre on the end. Everyone ahead of me basically had the medium tyre on, but I lost a medium tire in FP2, and due to run plan schedules."

On the other hand, Ferrari had a torrid qualifying session as a team. While Hamilton was knocked out in Q2, Charles Leclerc slammed into the crash barriers in Q3, ending his session prematurely.

Edited by Geetansh Pasricha