Lewis Hamilton finished Friday at the F1 Azerbaijan GP in high spirits, having topped the timesheets in the second practice session of the weekend.
A more difficult start to the day saw the British driver finish 13th FP1 after he suffered front wing damage from a collision with the barriers. However, he set the pace later in FP2, leading a Ferrari 1-2 with teammate Charles Leclerc not far behind.
Hamilton: Happy to see Ferrari progress after difficult start to 2025 F1 season
The result certainly put a smile on Hamilton’s face, having faced a series of difficult weekends since his debut with Ferrari at the start of the season.
Speaking after FP2 and responding to a comment that stated it had been a positive day for him, Hamilton responded, “It really has [been] – thank the Lord!
“It wasn’t so positive [early on]… I would say [Free Practice 1] 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. Also, every track I’m going to is the first time driving the Ferrari at that circuit, so acclimatising to that is not easy.
“We made some changes going into [FP2] and the brakes finally were working perfectly. I was able to really make some big advantages in terms of gaining on the brakes.”
Ferrari currently sits second in the constructors’ championship – a positive statistic on paper, but the team trails McLaren by a huge 337 points (indeed, the British team could wrap up the championship this weekend). Mercedes also sits rather threateningly at just 20 points behind the Scuderia, with one win under its belt.
At a circuit like Baku, overtaking is made extremely difficult by narrow city streets, so often qualifying results are a strong indicator of how the race will end. If Ferrari can keep up its positive pace from Friday, the team could be looking at a very strong F1 Azerbaijan GP weekend.
Hamilton continued, “I’m really happy to see the progress and 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.”
Hamilton hesitant to label Ferrari progress as a breakthrough
Despite the positive result, Hamilton kept things tentative when asked how big the day might be for himself and the team: “It’s just practice day. I’d say let’s not go too far.
“I just want to say that I really am grateful for everyone continuing to push, the support I’ve been getting back from everyone at the factory, everyone here, their patience, 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.
“Then the Tifosi, we’ve been beaming from the energy from the Tifosi in the last race [at Monza] – I’m hoping to take that energy that they gave us all the way through the rest of the season.”
Leclerc: “I didn’t do a great job” on Friday at F1 Azerbaijan GP
Things were slightly less enthusiastic on the other side of the Ferrari garage, with Charles Leclerc unhappy with his performance. He also expressed some concern that McLaren was holding some pace back after its drivers finished 10th and 12th in FP2.
“It was okay,” said Leclerc when reflecting on his day. “I think there’s a lot more potential, especially coming from me – I didn’t do a great job today. 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. I think people will be very surprised tomorrow because Lando [Norris] didn’t finish some laps which were very, very impressive. I doubt we will be in the fight with them, but compared to the others it seems that we are kind of in a good place.”
And despite Ferrari’s positive pace, Leclerc is keeping his expectations grounded:
“I don’t think there’s a battle for the win for now, but never say never,” he said. “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. I’ll keep my hopes high, but it looks unlikely.”
