Hamilton buoyed by... in Baku after Mercedes ditched the....

Hamilton buoyed by… in Baku after Mercedes ditched the….read more

Lewis Hamilton expressed optimism after the first day of running at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, following a strong performance in both free practice sessions. The seven-time world champion revealed that Mercedes’ decision to revert to an older-spec floor, after struggles in recent races, had paid off in Baku. He was particularly encouraged by the setup changes made to his W15, which helped him achieve competitive times throughout the day.

Mercedes had faced challenges at the Dutch and Italian Grands Prix, where their performance fell short of expectations. However, the team made a bold choice to bring back the floor specification used earlier in the season for the tricky street circuit in Baku. The change appeared to benefit Hamilton, who ended the first session in second place before clocking the third-fastest lap in the evening’s Free Practice 2 session.

Reflecting on his performance, Hamilton shared his satisfaction: “Today was a really good day. I enjoyed it from the start, as the car felt strong from the first laps on track. We made some positive incremental steps on the set-up. There was nothing we had to come back on, and we continued to build throughout the day.”

Although pleased with his short-run pace, Hamilton acknowledged that Mercedes did not complete enough laps during the longer stints in FP2 to fully evaluate their race pace. He said, “We didn’t complete a huge number of laps on our long run in FP2, so we’ll have to do some comparisons tonight to see where our relative speed is.”

Hamilton remained cautious despite the promising signs, emphasizing that Mercedes would need to work hard overnight to maximize their potential. “Our usual competitors looked strong, but I think we are there or thereabouts. That is encouraging, and it was our hope coming into this weekend. We’ll stay cautious and vigilant though. We’ll work hard tonight to try and find more gains and see what we can do in qualifying tomorrow,” he added.

While Hamilton’s day was productive, his teammate George Russell faced a more challenging start to the weekend. Russell finished eighth in the first session but missed a significant portion of the second practice due to a precautionary power unit change. The Briton later encountered further issues, cutting short his running in FP2 just before the chequered flag.

Reflecting on his day, Russell admitted that it wasn’t the smoothest start to the weekend. “Today wasn’t the smoothest Friday we’ve ever had. Unfortunately, we lost a little bit of running time with a precautionary power unit change ahead of FP2,” Russell explained. “Once we were out on track, I wasn’t completely happy with the balance of the car. I was struggling to get the tyres in the right window and was lacking a little confidence.”

Despite the setbacks, Russell remained optimistic about the weekend, citing Hamilton’s pace as a positive sign for the team. “The good news is that Lewis was looking very quick out there, which encourages us that the car is strong, and we can be competitive this weekend. It looks very close between several teams, with Ferrari in particular looking strong. If we can make improvements overnight, we can aim to be in the mix for qualifying and the race on Sunday,” he said.

Mercedes’ trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin echoed the mixed fortunes of the team’s drivers but remained confident in their potential. He noted Hamilton’s strong performance while acknowledging the difficulties Russell faced. “Lewis had two decent sessions and finished the day happy with the car. His pace also looked sensible, although we know the areas we’ve got to work on,” Shovlin said.

Russell’s day was more difficult. “George had a more challenging day. He wasn’t very happy with the balance of the car in FP1, so we spent that session trying to improve it,” Shovlin explained. The precautionary power unit change ahead of FP2 limited Russell’s running time, but the team plans to recover lost ground in the final practice session.

Shovlin concluded by stressing that Mercedes would continue working overnight to find gains and stay competitive for both qualifying and Sunday’s race.