Hamilton hails Ferrari progress after Baku practice one-two
BAKU : Lewis Hamilton hailed progress at Ferrari after leading Charles Leclerc one-two in Friday practice at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix while McLaren's title rivals Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri hit the wall.
Seven-times world champion Hamilton, yet to stand on the Formula One podium since he joined the Italian team in January, lapped the Baku street circuit in one minute 41.293 seconds in the second session.
Leclerc, on pole position in Baku for the past four seasons without once winning the race, was 0.074 slower.
McLaren had finished one-two in the red-flagged first session, with Norris ahead of championship leader Piastri while Hamilton clipped the barriers, suffered a puncture and damaged his car's front wing.
"I would say P1 (first practice) was a bit of a mess," said Hamilton of a session that was halted for some 25 minutes to repair kerb damage.
"This is a circuit where you have to have mega confidence on the brakes and I had some problems with the brakes.
"We made some changes going into P2 and the brakes finally were working perfect and I was able to really make some big advantage in terms of gaining on the brakes.
"Really happy to see the progress ... we're really starting to see the progress come through."
TOUGH TIME FOR MCLAREN DRIVERS
The McLaren drivers had a tougher time in practice two with Norris losing control at turn four and smashing his car's rear suspension.
"A costly one, especially here," said Norris of a mistake that cost him track time and had him nursing the stricken car back to the pits. "It was feeling good until then.
"I’m behind on the learnings now, a scrappy session from both my side and Oscar's side, he seemed to be struggling a bit with the car as well."
Piastri, last year's winner in Baku, suffered a power unit problem in first practice and then had his own brush with the wall - without damage - to finish 12th on the timesheets.
"A bit tricky," said the Australian. "I think the pace is there, it’s just not the easiest to get the most out of it at the moment, so that’s probably just the main thing."
Piastri is 31 points clear of Norris with eight rounds remaining and while that battle is set to run, McLaren can clinch the constructors' title for the second year in a row on Sunday and with a record seven races to spare.
Mercedes' George Russell, who was unwell on Thursday and missed the scheduled media day, completed the top three in practice two but 0.477 off Hamilton's time. Teammate Kimi Antonelli was fourth.
BEARMAN HAS TO BE CAREFUL TO AVOID BAN
Oliver Bearman, who has to be careful to avoid a mandatory one-race ban due to accumulated penalty points, was fifth fastest for Haas.
Williams had two drivers in the top 10 in the first session, with Alex Albon fifth and Carlos Sainz eighth. Albon was ninth in the later practice, with Sainz 11th.
Red Bull's four-times world champion Max Verstappen, who locked up and went off down an escape road before spinning his car around in first practice, was seventh and sixth respectively.
"We are fine-tuning little bits and hopefully tomorrow the car will be better," said Verstappen.
"Ferrari are always pretty fast around here and I do expect a few things to be close. It will all come down to driving a perfect lap in qualifying or getting your tyres in a good window."
Racing Bulls' Liam Lawson was seventh in practice two, ahead of Haas's Esteban Ocon.
(Writing by Alan Baldwin in London, editing by Ken Ferris)
