Lewis Hamilton says the toppings for Friday’s practice at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix are a sign that his Ferrari transition is moving in the right direction. Though he was careful not to read too much of the pace of his frontal driving, the seven-time world champion was particularly pleased with his progress in spending his day with Ferrari’s Brembo brakes, his chief bugbear this season, using carbon industry at Mercedes.
Hamilton is competing for consistency in his first season with Ferrari, with Azerbaijan being home to teammate Charles Leclerc, who has won four straight pole positions on the Baku Street Circuit. But it was Hamilton, not Leclair. Hit Monegasque into the top spot of FP2 0.074 seconds.
“It was a really positive day (it was a positive day), and I’m grateful to the Lord,” he said. “I think the P1 was a bit confused. This was a circuit where you have to be confident in the mega in the brakes, and there were some issues with the brakes. After that, we made some changes to the P2 and the brakes were ultimately fully functional.
“I’m really glad to see progress. It just shows the direction we’ve been going as a team. I’m really grateful that everyone is patient and everyone is pushing so hard.
“The support I have come back from everyone in the factory, everyone here – their patience and their support lifts me up every week, and Tifosi – we have sparkled from the energy from Tifosi in our final race.
Britton warned against reading too much Friday’s bounce, which also turned to Hamilton’s downbeat appearance in his Thursday media duties.
“It’s just a practice day,” he said. “Please don’t go far.”
Leclerc was a master of Baku’s qualifying rounds, but he knows that he needs special magic to spread his pole streak. Simon Galloway/Getty Images
Ferrari had Baku’s run by the end of Friday, and Hamilton hadn’t completed a clean flying lap with either McLaren driver, but he led the next Best George Russell by 0.477 in third place. Leclerc was optimistic that Ferrari had more pace, but warned that it would come more from the no-show Landororis and Oscar Piastri.
“I think there’s a lot more chances that come from me, especially. We didn’t do a great job today, but overall we look pretty strong, so that’s a good thing,” he said.
“But there are big things, but McLaren seems literally in another world. Rand didn’t finish some very impressive raps, so I think people will be very surprised tomorrow.
“I don’t think we’re in a fight with them, but compared to others, we seem to be in a good place.”
Still, Leclerc, who won the final four pole positions and a sprint pole on the track in 2023, is willing to give up completely the possibility of a fifth consecutive P1 start at Baku.
“I don’t think there’s a fight for victory at the moment, but I’ll never say it,” he added. “In 2021, and with many qualifications here, I feel that is impossible and in the end we accomplished it, so I keep my hopes high.