BAKU, Azerbaijan – After topping Friday practice, Lewis Hamilton lauded Ferrari’s patience through his recent struggles and summed up his mood in a simple way: “Thank the lord.'”
Hamilton led teammate Charles Leclerc to a Ferrari one-two in the second practice session, usually seen as the best representation of car pace.
Ferrari had been quietly confident of being competitive this weekend at Baku’s street circuit and Hamilton, who has yet to score a grand prix podium since moving to Ferrari this year, was in a positive mood after stepping out of the car.
“It really has [been a positive day], thank the lord,” Hamilton said.
The seven-time world champion had gone quickest in FP2 after clipping the wall in FP1.
“It started out it wasn’t so positive. I’d say P1 was a bit of a mess. This is a circuit where you have to have mega confidence on the brakes, and I had some problems with the brakes. Every track I’m going to is the first time I’m driving the Ferrari at that circuit, so acclimatizing to that is not easy. Then we made some changes going into P2, and the brakes finally were working perfectly and I was able to make some quick, big advantage in terms of gaining on the brakes.
“So I’m really happy to see the progress. It just goes to show the direction we’ve been going as a team. I’m really, really grateful for everyone’s patience and everyone pushing so hard, because we’re really starting to see the progress come through.”
While Leclerc and boss Fred Vasseur had previously pointed to Baku as a potential victory opportunity, during Thursday’s media day Hamilton had played down Ferrari’s chances of beating the dominant McLaren cars. McLaren’s title-chasing pair Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris both clipped the wall in second practice, finishing down the order as a result.
On Friday evening Hamilton still sounded cautious in his predictions for the rest of the weekend. “It’s just a practice day,” he said. “I would say let’s not go too far.
“I would say I am really grateful for everyone continuing to push. The support I’ve been getting back from everyone at the factory, everyone here, their patience and their support every weekend just lifting me up, the guys in the garage, all of our marketing team, they’re really making a big difference.
“And then the tifosi — we’ve been beaming from the energy from the tifosi in the last race. I’m hoping to take that energy that they gave us all the way through the rest of the season.”
Whether Ferrari can turn an encouraging Friday into a push for victory remains to be seen. McLaren driver Norris said he expects to see the red cars in the fight all weekend.
When asked if Ferrari will be a threat, Norris replied: “Certainly. They were easily the quickest here last year even though Oscar won. I think Ferrari will be quick. Red Bull are going to be quick — they’re never good on Friday but then they go to sleep and they wake up and they’re just quick again. I expect a challenge from at least three cars tomorrow.”
Hamilton’s teammate Leclerc, who has claimed four consecutive pole positions in Baku without ever winning the event, said the McLaren’s issues in FP2 masked their true pace.
“It was okay,” he said of his day. “I think there’s a lot more potential, especially coming from me — I didn’t do a great job today — but overall we seem to be pretty strong, so it’s good. But … and there’s a big but … it looks like McLaren is in another world literally, and I think people will be very surprised tomorrow, because Lando didn’t finish some laps that were very, very impressive.
“I doubt we’ll be in the fight with them, but compared to the others, it seems we are kind of in a good place. I don’t think there’s a battle for the win for now, but never say never. I think in 2021 and in many qualifyings here I felt like it wasn’t possible and at the end we kind of made it, so I’ll keep my hopes high. But it looks unlikely.”
