Lewis Hamilton has praised Ferrari for the “progress” that has been shown which could put him in contention for victory in this weekend’s Formula 1 Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
The seven-time World Champion has appeared to find steady improvements since the resumption of F1 after the summer break, in which he appeared to be at his lowest ebb.
Despite crashing out at Zandvoort, Team Principal Fred Vasseur insisted there was a newfound belief from Hamilton in the SF-25, which has been a car he has struggled to adapt to.
Last time out at Monza, Hamilton scored sixth place, by no means his best result in scarlet red, but a mighty performance given the five-place grid penalty which saw him start 10th.
He also managed to secure top spot in FP1 ahead of that race, and on Friday in Baku, he repeated that feat, ending FP2 in first, ahead of team-mate Charles Leclerc in second.
Ferrari’s rivals have already indicated there is a potential battle for supremacy across three teams, including the Scuderia, this weekend.
And Hamilton, speaking after his promising afternoon’s running, was asked whether he has seen a significant improvement in the package he has previously said feels “alien” to him.
“It really has, yeah, thank the Lord,” he said.
“It started out, it wasn’t so positive, I would say. [F]P1 was a bit of a mess. And this is a circuit where you have to have mega confidence in 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.
“Then we made some changes going into P2 and the brakes finally were working perfect and sort of, I was able to really make some quick big advantage, in terms of gaining on the brakes. So really happy to see the progress.
“And it just goes to show like, the direction we’ve been going as a team. Really, really grateful for everyone’s patience and everyone pushing so hard, because we really started to see the progress come through.”
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