Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas says the squad’s W09 is “not an easy car to drive at the moment” but remains adamant it has potential that can be unlocked.
Mercedes has yet to win in 2018 and while Bottas topped the opening session in Azerbaijan, he slipped to fourth in second practice, as the leading contenders ran Ultrasofts.
Reflecting on Friday’s sessions, Bottas said: “FP1 was better than FP2 because I think we were missing a bit of pace in the second session compared to Ferrari and Red Bull.
In full: Azerbaijan GP FP2 results
“It was quite difficult to get a lap together, even my best lap today was a bit a messy. It's not an easy car to drive at the moment, we have some work to do with the balance.
“But if we get everything right, the car is quick. We have plenty of things to look at tonight so that we make the right changes for tomorrow and Sunday.
“The fact that we're here in Baku earlier than in previous years definitely affects the tyres, but the biggest concern is the wind.
“It's supposed to be very windy tomorrow and on Sunday which makes a lot of a difference on a street circuit.”
Team-mate Lewis Hamilton finished fourth in the opening session and classified fifth, behind Bottas, in FP2, eight-tenths behind pacesetter Daniel Ricciardo.
“It's been a smooth day,” said reigning World Champion Hamilton. “We got through everything we needed without many mistakes and we gathered lots of information.
“It started out quite warm but cooled down in the afternoon, which made it interesting to try and understand the tyres in both conditions.
“Overall, we weren't quick enough today, both Red Bull and Ferrari seem to be ahead of us at the moment.
“So we've got some work to do. I'm going to be knocking on the doors of all the engineers overnight, so that we can hopefully make the right changes.”
