Lewis Hamilton admitted his Friday in Baku began in frustrating fashion, but a key change to his Ferrari’s brake settings transformed his fortunes and left him topping the times at the end of the day.
The Briton, who ended FP1 only 13th after brushing the barriers, rebounded in style to clock a 1m41.293s in FP2 and lead a Ferrari one-two ahead of teammate Charles Leclerc.
For Hamilton, it marked another encouraging sign in his and his team’s progress amid a challenging debut campaign in red.
“A bit of a mess” in FP1
“It really has [been positive] – thank the Lord!” Hamilton smiled when asked about his day. “It wasn’t so positive [early on]… I would say [FP1] was a bit of a mess.
“This is a circuit where you have to have mega confidence on the brakes, and I had some problems with the brakes. Also, every track I’m going to is the first time driving the Ferrari at that circuit, so acclimatising to that is not easy.
“We made some changes going into [FP2] and the brakes finally were working perfectly. I was able to really make some big advantages in terms of gaining on the brakes.
“I’m really happy to see the progress and it just goes to show the direction we’ve been going as a team.
“I’m really, really grateful for everyone’s patience and everyone pushing so hard, because we’re really starting to see the progress come through.”
Gratitude, but caution
Despite his strong performance on Friday, Hamilton played down suggestions of a major breakthrough, stressing the importance of keeping perspective.
“It’s just practice day. I’d say let’s not go too far,” he said.
“I just want to say that I really am grateful for everyone continuing to push, the support I’ve been getting back from everyone at the factory, everyone here, their patience, their support, every weekend just lifting me up...
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“The guys in the garage, all of our marketing team – they’re really making a big difference. Then the Tifosi, we’ve been beaming from the energy from the Tifosi in the last race [at Monza].
“I’m hoping to take that energy that they gave us all the way through the rest of the season.”
Leclerc wary of McLaren
Leclerc, meanwhile, suggested Ferrari’s true position might only become clear on Saturday.
“It was okay. I think there’s a lot more potential, especially coming from me – I didn’t do a great job today,” the Monegasque admitted. “Overall we seem to be pretty strong, so it’s good.
“But, and there’s a big but, it looks like McLaren is in another world, literally. I think people will be very surprised tomorrow because Lando [Norris] didn’t finish some laps which were very, very impressive.
“I doubt we will be in the fight with them, but compared to the others it seems that we are kind of in a good place.
“I don’t think there’s a battle for the win for now, but never say never. I think in 2021 and in many Qualifyings here I felt like it wasn’t possible, and at the end we kind of made it. I’ll keep my hopes high, but it looks unlikely.”
With Ferrari showing pace and Hamilton revitalized, the stage is set for an intriguing battle in Baku.
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