Astonishingly, the world champion drove just EIGHT practice laps in his Mercedes teamās simulator to learn the quickest way around the 3.7mile circuit.
Hamilton romps to the fastest lap at the controversial circuit in the Azerbaijan capital
Cocky Hamilton is on the crest of a wave after wins in Monaco and Montreal and he showed his swagger here at the brand new circuit in Azerbaijan.
And despite not even seeing the track first, he comfortably topped both practice sessions here on Friday.
He said: āOn the simulator it was very easy, but the simulator is not very good, itās a very bad computer game basically so it doesnāt say much.
āIt took me five or six [laps] to learn it and then I already did the best time and I couldnāt beat it after that.
āI donāt drive the simulator a lot because itās not at its best at the moment. Weāre working on trying to get it better.
āI quite like the idea of going out and not knowing, seeing it for the first time. I was kind of excited about that.
Nico Rosberg acknowledges fans but had to bow to Mercedes team-mate Hamilton
German ace Sebastian Vettel surges past the most picturesque part of the track
āIāve walked around circuits from Formula Renault to probably my third or fourth year in Formula One.
āIt made zero difference to my weekend performance. So Iāve not walked a track since 2010, it makes zero difference.ā
F1 drivers Jenson Button and Hamiltonās team-mate Nico Rosberg were both hugely critical of the lack of run-off areas around this brand new track.
But Hamilton says there is TOO MUCH space for error, despite almost all of the other 21 drivers making cock-ups during practice.
He added: āIāve seen huge one here at Turn 16, massive. I think itās too big a run-off area.
Brit Jenson Button gets his first taste of the track ahead of the European GP
British ace Hamilton showed how keen he is to shrug off doubts over the venue
āThereās a white line and then thereās ten metres probably to the wall on your left, which weāll never drive there.
āI like Monaco and that doesnāt have hardly any run-off areas, only in the areas we really, really need.
āThatās why I love Monaco and also Montreal, because thereās not really much room for that.ā
Hamiltonās excellent day was made even better as his nearest championship rivals Rosberg and Sebastian Vettel both suffered mechanical problems.
And Rosberg admits his spectacular drop in form has been āa blowā after shipping 34 points in just two races to Hamilton.
He said: āMy results have been a blow and I donāt like finishing fifth in Montreal.
āI havenāt been counting my points; Iāve just wanted to win the races. Itās not going so well lately but that doesnāt change my optimism or my motivation.
āI know I can win this race, and itās always going to be a battle with Lewis, thatās a given fact.
āItās never going to be easy against him. I lost out unfortunately in Montreal, thatās it, Iāll fight back.ā
Meanwhile, race bosses are frantically trying to repair kerbs in time for qualifying today (SAT) after their fixing bolts came loose during practice.