Lewis Hamilton remains confident that Mercedes can display strong pace at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, despite a low-key showing during Friday’s practice sessions.
Hamilton was fifth quickest in the opening session before slipping to the foot of the top 10 in second practice, albeit his best effort coming on the Soft tyre, as opposed to the Supersoft.
Hamilton’s Mercedes team-mate, Valtteri Bottas, finished second overall, a tenth down on Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, and the Briton believes Bottas’ pace demonstrates the manufacturer’s potential.
“It was a difficult day out there,” said Hamilton.
“This circuit is a tough one and we had a few challenges that we tried to work through today.
“We've clearly still got lots of work to do ahead of qualifying, but Valtteri's time in FP2 looked promising, so there is obviously pace in the car, which is encouraging.
“Now it's just a case of getting our heads together tonight to work out exactly how to extract that pace across the entire weekend.”
Bottas feels that changes made between sessions boosted Mercedes, and that minor tweaks before Saturday’s sessions will enable the team to fight for pole position.
“We needed multiple laps in a row to generate the temperatures we want for a good balance,” he said.
“FP1 wasn't a happy session, but we made some changes ahead of FP2 and the car definitely felt more comfortable.
“We are moving in the right direction and hopefully we'll make another step this evening.
“We'll work hard and if we can find those gains we'll be right up there fighting for pole position.”
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