Lewis Hamilton says that his topping of Friday training in the Azerbaijan Grand Prix is a sign that his Ferrari transition is moving in the right direction. Although warning against reading too much at his prominent pace, the seven-fold world champion was particularly happy with the progress he said throughout the day with Ferrari’s Brembo brakes, who have been a main bugbear for him this season after years of use of carbon industry at Mercedes.
Hamilton has fought for consistency in his first season with Ferrari, and Azerbaijan – a stronghold by teammate Charles Leclerc, who has won four straight pole positions on the Baku Street Circuit – was tipped as a challenging round for his momentum. But it was Hamilton, not Leclerc, who ended the day the fastest, Defeat the Monegasque to the top location in FP2 with 0.074s.
“It really has [been a positive day]Thank the Lord, “he said.” I would say that P1 was a bit of a mess – this is a circuit where you should have mega confidence on the brakes, and I had some problems with the brakes. After that we made some changes to P2, and the brakes finally worked perfectly – I was able to make a quick, big advantage in terms of obtaining the brakes.
“I am really happy to see the progress. It just shows the direction we have gone as a team. I am really, very, very grateful for everyone’s patience and everyone is pushing so hard, because we really start to see how the progress gets through.
“The support I got back from everyone in the factory, everyone here – their patience and their support every weekend, just lifts me up. And then the Tifosi – in the last race of the energy of the Tifosi we hope to take the energy they gave us all the way through the rest of the season.”
It was also a turning point at Hamilton’s Downbeat performance during his Thursday media vomiting, although the Brit warned against reading too much in his Friday bumper.
“It’s just a practice day,” he said. “I would say, let’s not go too far.”
Leclerc is the master of Baku qualification, but knows that some special magic is needed to expand its pole streak. Simon Galloway/Getty images
Ferrari had the run of Baku towards the end of Friday, with Hamilton, who led the second best George Russell in third place with 0.477s, albeit with neither McLaren driver who completed a clean flying round. Leclerc was optimistic that there was even more pace in the Ferrari, but warned that there was even more from the no-show Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri.
“I think there is much more potential, especially from me – I didn’t do it great today – but in general we seem to be pretty strong, so it’s good,” he said.
“But – and there is a big one, but – it seems that McLaren is literally in another world, and I think people will be very surprised tomorrow, because Lando has not finished any laps that were very, very impressive.
“I doubt that we will be in the fight with them, but compared to the others, it seems that we are a bit in a good place.”
Nevertheless, Leclerc – after the last four pool positions on this track, as well as a sprint post in 2023 – is not willing to fully give up on his chances of a fifth consecutive P1 start in Baku.
“I don’t think there is a struggle for the victory now, but never say never,” he added. “I think that in 2021 and in many qualifications here I had the feeling that it was not possible and in the end we made it a bit, so I will keep my hope high. But it looks unlikely.”
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