Mercedes drivers Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas conceded the reigning champions face an uphill challenge after struggling for performance during practice in Azerbaijan.
Hamilton and Bottas classified only seventh and 10th respectively in the first session on Friday as Formula 1 returned to the Baku City Circuit after a year’s absence.
Its situation worsened during the one-lap Soft tyre runs in second practice as Hamilton finished only 11th, a second behind pacesetter Sergio Perez, while Bottas languished in 16th place. Find the best odds on the Azerbaijan GP with William Hill promotional offers.
“I generally had a really good day, I felt it was clean, I got all the laps we needed, was not really any mistakes, I had one lock up in P1, but [it was] just slow,” said Hamilton.
“The car felt better in FP1, and this [session, FP2, there was] just no more time in it.
“We’re definitely quite a chunk down and I think everyone will be scratching their heads trying to figure out, and looking into the data, how we can improve.
“It’s not easy to be out of the top 10 in pace when we’ve had pace in other places, but yeah, I don’t really know we’re why we’re where we are.”
Bottas described the situation as “very, very tricky for us today, and we were really lacking pace.
“It feels it’s just a lack of overall grip. The balance is not that far off. I think it’s going to be a long night tonight.
“Monaco, it wasn’t easy but at least we were more or less there by the time of qualifying.
“Now we seem to be quite a bit off, so it has definitively been a more challenging day than we anticipated, and we need to find exactly why.”
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