Hamilton says a win looks 'far-fetched', still hopes for a podium
BAKU :Lewis Hamilton said his hopes of a first win for Ferrari this season looked "far-fetched" but he still hoped to stand on the podium at some point in the final eight races.
The seven-times Formula One world champion has yet to finish in the top three in his first campaign with the Italian team since leaving Mercedes at the end of last year.
The 40-year-old's 105th and last race win was in Belgium in July, 2024, while Ferrari have yet to win since Carlos Sainz, Hamilton's predecessor, took the chequered flag in Mexico City last October.
"A win is a bit far-fetched considering I've been sixth, seventh and eighth for most of the season," the sport's most successful driver told reporters on Thursday ahead of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix in Baku.
"I would love to get a podium for the team at some stage. Charles (Leclerc) has had four or five of them, so I feel optimistic coming into the weekend."
Hamilton is one of only three drivers still on the Formula One grid to have won at Baku's City Circuit, triumphing with Mercedes in 2018, and Ferrari have gone well there in the past.
McLaren's current championship leader Oscar Piastri won last year with Leclerc starting on pole for the fourth successive season.
Hamilton has stood on the podium in every year of his record-breaking career that started with McLaren in 2007 but suffered his first year without a win in 2022 and had another blank in 2023.
The Briton said he had "found a couple of things" after Ferrari's home race at Monza on September 7 and now needed to work on them.
"I really hope that this weekend can be the start of that," he said.
In a separate interview with French newspaper L'Equipe published this week, Hamilton said he had no plans to stop any time soon and was grateful that double world champion Fernando Alonso was still competing with Aston Martin the age of 44.
