Lewis Hamilton has pointed the finger at Formula 1's 2026 engine regulations for his near-miss with Liam Lawson during second practice at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix in Baku. The incident occurred when Hamilton, on an out-lap, slowed dramatically in the final sector due to battery energy depletion, while Lawson was on a flying lap.
Hamilton, driving for Ferrari, explained that on an out-lap before a fast lap, he had no electrical deployment (K) and was solely reliant on the internal combustion engine (ICE), resulting in a power deficit of around 500bhp. "With the way the rules are set, when you do an out-lap and when you come round the last corner to start your lap you have no K, so you have no battery deployment. You just have the ICE, so it's something like 500bhp less," Hamilton said.
He added that there are no clear guidelines on the safe gap required to account for closing speeds with drivers on flying laps. "I was four seconds ahead, I thought there was enough. I was like 'this looks big enough', got on the power and once I got into Turn 18 the speed deficit was huge and there was nowhere I could go at that point. So unfortunate, but it gives us good guidelines as to what to potentially change tomorrow," he explained.
The incident infuriated Lawson, who vented his frustration over team radio. "Oh my god, that is so dangerous," Lawson said. The incident is under investigation, and both drivers have been summoned to see the stewards. Hamilton described the steward process as unpleasant. "When you go to the stewards, they have a set of rules that they have to go with, but it's like interrogation. You sit in a room with like six people and they are like 'so, give us your views'. It's a really unpleasant experience," he added.
Hamilton stressed that the near-miss was not the drivers' fault but a consequence of the FIA's decisions regarding the 2026 engine regulations. "That's not the drivers' fault. That's what the FIA did with the decisions at the beginning of the year and we're trying to manage the best we can as drivers on track in finding the right gaps and not getting in the way of people," he said.
Furthermore, he proposed a solution to ensure drivers have maximum power at the final corners before a flying lap. "One of the proposals was that when you are on the lap and you come round the last corner, you have max power all the way through 18 and 19 and then it resets out of 19, the battery power. There are tracks where you are not allowed to go slower in a certain section and they should give us power through that section, so even if you are on a slow lap, you have to go full gas and you have maximum power and you'll never be in anyone's way," he explained.
The seven-time world champion hopes that discussions in the drivers' briefing will lead to an agreement to prevent similar incidents. "We'll talk about it in the drivers' briefing and hopefully we will come to some sort of conclusion," he concluded. Meanwhile, the incident has become a talking point ahead of qualifying and the race, as driver safety remains a top priority.
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