What the teams said – Friday in Azerbaijan

McLaren

McLaren had a tricky start to the weekend, after leaving some equipment on Norris’ car which was soon rectified. But worse followed when a PU issue was detected on Piastri’s car, that cost him some running in FP1, but he was able to get back out. Norris topped the first session from his team mate, the gap three tenths of a second. But worse was to come for the papaya team, when both drivers managed to clip the walls in FP2. Norris came off worse, suffering enough damage that he did not feature again in the session. Piastri lost his fast lap on the softs, hence why he wound up down the order.

Oscar Piastri - FP1: 1:43.015, P2; FP2: 1:42.295, P12

“A mixed day. The pace is there but it hasn’t been the easiest to extract it. We had an issue in FP1, but the team did a great job to get us back out on track. We tried a few things in FP2 which seemed to keep us progressing. We’ll see what we can change this evening to keep us on that track. Still a lot of positives from the day so looking forward to seeing what we can do tomorrow.”

Lando Norris - FP1: 1:42.704, P1; FP2: 1:42.199, P10

"A bit frustrating to have made that small but costly mistake, but I’d rather push and find the limits, than not get anywhere near. The day was going well until then and the car felt good, so we’re still in a reasonable place. The competition is looking close, but we’ll do what we can heading into Saturday.”

Andrea Stella, Team Principal

"A disruptive Friday in Baku with multiple Red and Yellow Flags interrupting both sessions. We know this is a tight circuit with little room for mistakes and today was tougher than we wanted with stop-start running making it difficult to get a clean rhythm.

“The team worked hard to investigate an issue with Oscar’s PU in Free Practice 1 which was quickly rectified allowing Oscar to get back on track, thankfully having missed little running due to the Red Flag. On Lando’s side he had some contact with the wall when pushing to the limit in Free Practice 2, unfortunately cutting his session short. Oscar also brushed the wall on his new tyre run, so we didn’t have a chance to demonstrate our true pace this afternoon.

“Despite these interruptions, we have been able to collect some important data that can be taken away tonight. We will consolidate our learnings as a team and refine what we can in order to make steps forward in tomorrow's final practice session. Today’s sessions confirm we can expect another tight and competitive challenge for Pole in Qualifying tomorrow.”

Ferrari

Hamilton did not have the dream start to his weekend, after he clipped the wall in FP1. That left him with a puncture and in need of a new front wing. The good news is the car did look quick, with Leclerc winding up third on the timing sheet. Better was to come for the Scuderia in the late afternoon session, with their drivers both looking fast and relatively evenly matched. Hamilton went fastest on the mediums, Leclerc replaced him on the softs and then the seven-time World Champion returned to the top spot when he bolted on the C6 rubber. Cause for optimism heading into tomorrow.

Charles Leclerc - FP1: 1:43.256, P3; FP2: 1:41.367, P2

"I think there’s more potential this weekend. I did a solid job today, but I want to extract more. Our competitors seem to be very strong and I expect to see some surprises in qualifying tomorrow, but anything can happen on this track, so we will see what’s on the cards. We’ll fight for a good starting position tomorrow."

Lewis Hamilton - FP1: 1:44.087, P13; FP2: 1:41.293, P1

"Overall, it was a constructive day. The first session was challenging as I needed to get used to the brakes, but we made some good changes for FP2. The car felt much better, everything started to come together, and my confidence grew lap by lap. It was really positive to have such a strong second session, probably my best FP2 of the year so far, and shows the progress we’re making. There are still a few areas we can improve for tomorrow, but I believe we’re moving in the right direction."

Mercedes

Russell was able to drive on Friday, after feeling unwell the day before. And the good news is he was quick to boot, finishing up the order in the opening session. Antonelli took a little longer to get up to speed, but had a clean FP1 which is just what his boss wanted. In FP2, Mercedes were the team to push Ferrari the closest, with Russell third and Antonelli an impressive P4. The teenager had a completely clean Friday, and was only 0.009s behind his team mate – a good way to impress Toto Wolff, with the Mercedes contracts still up in the air as it stands.

George Russell - FP1: 1:43.257, P4; FP2: 1:41.770, P3

"That was an encouraging Friday for us here in Azerbaijan. We opted to complete our programme on the Soft compound only today and that made judging our overall limitations a little more tricky than usual. It is a long lap in Baku and the rear tyres are often suffering, particularly in the final sector. With the softest compounds in the range being used here, we knew the C6 would struggle to hold on throughout. With that said, we still ended the day in the top four in both sessions and know we’ve still got further improvements we can make. We also carry all our sets of the C5 Medium tyre into the rest of the weekend, and we hope that will be an advantage for us over some of our competitors.

"I am now looking forward to resting up tonight, getting back to 100 per cent, and coming back strong for the rest of the weekend. We know it will once again be tight with our competitors, with Ferrari looking impressive and McLaren not yet showing their hand. If we can build on today though, then there’s no reason we can’t be in the fight for the podium on race day."

Kimi Antonelli - FP1: 1:43.985, P11; FP2: 1:41.779, P4

"We had a pretty positive day out there. As it’s a street circuit, you want to build up your pace and confidence over several sessions and that is what I was focused on doing. We had a big interruption to FP1 which cost everyone some track running, but the car felt good in FP2 and that put us P4 on the timing screens. There is still work for us to do and improvements for us to find but today was a day we can build on going into the rest of the weekend.

"Our realistic aim is to be in the fight for the podium on Sunday. McLaren couldn’t show their full pace today and Ferrari looked quick on both the Soft and Medium compounds, so we’re not getting carried away. We opted to only run the Soft tyre today and hopefully that helps over the rest of the weekend. It will be tricky adjusting to the other compounds when we first run them but we’re confident that this is the right approach."

Andrew Shovlin, Trackside Engineering Director

"With any street circuit, if you get through the programme without any damage, it's normally a solid day. Both drivers did a good job, gradually finding time as the track improved and evolving the setup for the increasing grip. In terms of pace, we look to be in the mix but a good Friday here doesn't always carry into the rest of the weekend so we can't take anything for granted.

"With a C6/C5/C4 tyre allocation here in Azerbaijan, all teams had some tough strategic decisions to take today. As we saw in both Imola and Montreal with this selection, there was a likelihood that the Medium tyre would be faster over the single lap than the Soft. With a long lap here in Baku where the rears often suffer in the final sector, this possibility looked to increase. We therefore opted to save all of our Mediums for Saturday and Sunday. That will keep our options open for qualifying and the Grand Prix. Hopefully that decision will play out in our favour over the rest of the weekend."

Red Bull

It was a solid opening session for Red Bull, who had both drivers pushing each other hard. Verstappen complained about his car bouncing and ran wide on his first soft-shod push lap but other than that, fared okay. The Dutchman finished in a similar position after a quiet FP2 but Tsunoda struggled to stay in touch with his team mate and dropped down the order – with the margins once again very, very tight.

Max Verstappen - FP1: 1:43.790, P7; FP2: 1:41.902, P6

“It wasn’t too bad today. Building up to it, the car felt quite good which was positive for us. We found a stable balance and this needs to be quite particular for the layout of this track. Everything needs to come together to produce a good lap and we are still working to find more on the one lap and to gain more confidence. We are fine tuning little bits and hopefully tomorrow the car will be better. The long runs felt okay, it is always going to be slippery around here and tough on the tyres with the softer compounds, but it is not too bad. 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. With such a long straight you can get lucky with a tow as well."

Yuki Tsunoda - FP1: 1:43.738, P6; FP2: 1:42.444, P14

"Driving here in Baku is always a little bit different, so it's important to get as much information from each session. Overall, it was a good day. In the short run there is some room to improve but it's good that we're experiencing it on Friday so we can perform well tomorrow. In FP2, we mainly focussed on the long runs and that felt a lot better and I haven't had that feeling a lot this year. The car is making sense so far which is a real positive and lap by lap we're getting there. We're going to stay positive, keep going in the right direction and see what we can do tomorrow."

Gianpiero Lambiase, Head of Racing

“Baku presents another unique challenge and it is almost a lap of two halves, where we have a two kilometre long straight and a sequence of multiple low speed corners. It is challenging to pick our downforce level, to not only be optimum in lap time in Qualifying but to ensure we are raceable across multiple factors on Sunday. That’s one challenge and the other is that this is a street track, so it is very bumpy, which causes a few gremlins under braking. So, there have been some tweaks mechanically across both cars, both in session and across sessions, to try and optimise our platform. Looking ahead to Quali and the race, there is an unusual tyre selection across the grid, across both sessions and most people are opting to focus on the Soft tyre. We, therefore, have some analyse to do this evening to really look into the programme for Qualifying, while making sure we are on top of our long run game on Sunday, which could be impacted by lower than usual track temperatures here."

Williams

Albon lost his wing mirror in the opening session, but apart from that, looked quick. Both cars came home in the top 10 at a track that was expected to suit their car. The Thai driver was the only one to sample the hard tyres in FP2, and he looked quick on the C4 compound. He seemed to have the edge on Sainz, who ran the mediums instead in the second session. But both drivers look contenders for Q3 tomorrow based on current form.

Alex Albon - FP1: 1:43.563, P5; FP2: 1:42.177, P9

"Today was about tyre learnings. First thing was to get on top of our programme for this weekend and trying to find the middle ground in terms of what’s optimal for the car and what’s optimal over one lap. I think we’re in a good flow right now, I'm happy with the car and I'm happy with the balance. Although I would like it to stay dry for the rest of the weekend. If there’s rain or weather tomorrow it puts us in a bit more of an unknown side, at the same time, it might make us even quicker. But for the most part, I think we've been in a good rhythm from FP1 and continued it into FP2."

Carlos Sainz - FP1: 1:43.859, P8; FP2: 1:42.255, P11

"Interesting day for us today. FP1 was quite messy and we were caught out constantly by yellow flags. FP2 however was a better session and I’m happy with our long runs. We seem to struggle again with the softer compound so we need to keep looking for something more for Quali. I think tomorrow the Soft and Medium tyres are going to be extremely close, so we might see different approaches and this will spice things up in Qualifying."

Racing Bulls

Hadjar and Lawson started their respective weekends strongly, both winding up in the top 10 in FP1. Hadjar was slightly frustrated by some traffic, but he still managed to keep clear of the walls. They managed much the same in the second hour of practice, although Lawson was the only driver in the top 10. The Kiwi racer seems to have a slight edge here, with work to do from Hadjar overnight to see where his team mate is extracting that extra pace.

Isack Hadjar - FP1: 1:43.975, P10; FP2: 1:42.443, P13

“It didn’t feel great out there today. I’ve been struggling to find the limits of the car, it’s still very inconsistent, and my own driving needs work as well, especially in Sector 2. I have a clear idea of the changes I want to make to the car setup and the areas I need to improve on my side. I’m feeling quite confident for tomorrow, and hopefully we can reach Q3.”

Liam Lawson - FP1: 1:43.903, P9; FP2: 1:41.989, P7

"It's been a good day for us. I haven't raced here in a few years and it feels very different to what I remember in F2. I think they did a great job at cleaning the track this weekend as it has good grip from the outset so we're driving a little faster than Qualifying times. We always aim to be in the top ten each weekend, so it of course feels good to be there at the end of FP2. The consistency of the car has been very strong recently, so we need to continue to chase the small margins."

Mattia Spini, Chief Race Engineer

“Baku remains one of the toughest venues on the calendar, combining a low-downforce street layout with close walls, a bumpy surface and significant track-grip evolution. Pirelli’s choice of compounds being one step softer than last year has added to the challenge, making tyre usage and management key factors for the weekend.

In FP1 both drivers finished in the middle of the timesheets, with room to improve through further driving refinement and setup work. During FP2 we alternated the C5 and C6 tyres across the two cars to gather comparative data. Liam closed a competitive lap, while Isack did not maximize his attempt. With cooler temperatures and shifting winds expected tomorrow, the team will use today’s findings to assemble the best possible package for qualifying and the race.”

Haas

Bearman started well, using the experience he had of racing here last year for Haas to good effect. He continued that form in FP2, looking very quick and winding up fifth despite setting his hot laps on the mediums. He did turn off twice though, showing how easy it is to get it wrong at this tricky track. As for Ocon, he trailed his team mate in both sessions but was also in the top 10 in the second hour of practice – giving Haas serious hopes of a strong weekend here.

Esteban Ocon – FP1: 1:44.439, P18; FP2: 1:42.167, P8

“From FP1, we saw that the grip was pretty decent, and we’ve tried a lot of things across the cars, so now we need to choose what’s best out there for tomorrow. I see some areas we’re lacking, but in corners we look pretty decent. Looking ahead to qualifying we split who ran which tyre in FP2, I ran on softs while Ollie used mediums, and now we need to look into the data and see what our engineers say as to which option is best.”

Oliver Bearman - FP1: 1:44.151, P16; FP2: 1:41.891, P5

“The lap time was very good and we’ve had a good car all day, honestly. We were struggling a bit with top speed in FP1, but we improved that in FP2 and now we look to be in the fight. I’ve had a good feeling with the car, which is the most important thing, so now we need to work overnight to make sure we get everything together for qualifying.”

Ayao Komatsu, Team Principal

“It was a decent Friday. I think we’ve got our homework done and gathered a lot of data from drivers. FP2 wasn’t perfect as we had an issue on Ollie’s car, but considering that, we got all the data we needed, so we can analyse it tonight. We need to pick the right set-up configuration, finetune it all, and understand the tyres tomorrow morning, before delivering it in qualifying.”

Kick Sauber

Bortoleto was the first to bring out the yellow flags after he missed the braking point on the green track in FP1 and needed to use the run off area. But after that, he managed to find a better rhythm out there and managed a good haul of laps. Hulkenberg did likewise, the pair running the mediums in FP2 along with a set of softs. But in a tight midfield, the team need to find a few tenths to get towards the top 10 tomorrow.

Nico Hulkenberg - FP1: 1:43.986, P12; FP2: 1:42.820, P18

“It was a classic Friday - nothing out of the ordinary. We ran through our programme, focused on understanding the way to optimise our car’s balance and on where we can improve. Looking at the lap times, there’s still some work to do, but overall, it was a solid baseline to build on. Now it’s about fine-tuning things ahead of the next two days.”

Gabriel Bortoleto - FP1: 1:44.087, P14; FP2: 1:42.561, P15

“Overall, it was a decent day, despite the tricky conditions. Several drivers went straight into the run-off – I had a couple of those moments too – but that’s just part of pushing to the edge. As a positive, we learned a lot about our limits, and that gives us something solid to build on ahead of Quali. I’m feeling good about the work we can do tonight and I’m looking forward to seeing what we can achieve tomorrow.”

Aston Martin

Aston Martin had a quiet opening session, no issues and plenty of laps completed – or as many as anyone got with the red flag stoppage in the first session. But they did not seem overly quick, both drivers down the order in both sessions. They need to dig into the data overnight, and find something different on set-up heading into Qualifying day, unless they want to find themselves battling to get out of Q1 tomorrow.

Fernando Alonso - FP1: 1:44.139, P15; FP2: 1:42.967, P19

"It's always a fun challenge around this tight and fast circuit.

"Looking at the lap-times it appears we still have some pace to find this weekend. You need to balance downforce and drag at this track and that's where we need to improve. Let's see what we can find overnight."

Lance Stroll - FP1: 1:44.329, P17; FP2: 1:42.771, P17

"We were getting some good laps in throughout both practice sessions today and collecting information to help in Qualifying tomorrow and for the race.

"Weather conditions are meant to be quite windy, so we'll have to see how that impacts our performance tomorrow in Qualifying."

Alpine

It was a tough opening for Alpine, who knew this track did not play to their strengths. The long straights do not suit the car, with their drivers propping up the order in the first session. The team were not helped by a car issue for Colapinto, that would have cost him some running but for the red flags. Gasly at least improved marginally in FP2, but Colapinto this time found himself at the bottom of the leaderboard. It looks a tough ask for the team to make it out of Q1 tomorrow on this form.

Pierre Gasly - FP1: 1:45.418, P20; FP2: 1:42.674, P16

“This is definitely one of those tracks which gets your attention right from the very first lap. It is a place where you need to have some patience and build up the speed and confidence bit by bit, especially the first few laps when the track is not in its best shape. Still, it is a real thrill with such high-speed. It is not an easy track for us and we knew that going into the race weekend. We know what we need to work on and we will try and optimise what we have in our hands. Today we tried different set-ups and different wing levels to see what the best direction is to take. I think we have found the areas to work on so we will aim to find improvements in Free Practice 3 ahead of Qualifying.”

Franco Colapinto - FP1: 1:45.299, P19; FP2: 1:43.322, P20

“It was nice to get back out there today on a track which brings me fond memories from last year. The circuit gives you a good feeling behind the wheel and, similar to other street tracks, it's somewhere you need to build up and not take too much risk on a Friday. We put in some clean laps and have a lot of data to go through tonight to be prepared for Qualifying, which will be the focus to peak at the right time. It was tricky out there today with some stoppages and yellow flags and we still have work to do to find more performance. There were some interesting differences up and down the grid in terms of tyre strategy for a single lap, so let's see how things pan out tomorrow.”

Pirelli

Simone Berra, Pirelli Chief Engineer

“A rather different Friday to usual, which suggests we are in for quite an unusual weekend, at least in terms of tyre usage. We brought the softest trio in the range here, with the C6 returning after being previously used in Imola, Monaco and Montreal. This compound behaved as expected, namely able to deliver a slightly higher grip level than the C5, but within a narrower window of exploitation. Furthermore, as we have seen in the past, feedback some drivers passed on to our engineers suggests that the C5 probably provides more stability in the twistier parts of the track, so that it might be the preferred compound for the key part of qualifying. No coincidence therefore that the C6 did the bulk of the work today.

“Therefore, it will be interesting to see what approach the teams and drivers adopt for qualifying, after making the most of the final hour of free practice tomorrow. Apart from that, it’s worth noting that track conditions are clearly an improvement on past years, a sign of how hard the organisers have worked over the past few days, treating the track surface with high-pressure water jets. This, along with lower temperatures, explains the significantly faster lap times compared to 2024 – they’ve already reached last year’s pole time – and the performance evolution during the sessions while significant, is not as extreme as in the past. Finally, we can report the total absence of graining across all three compounds.”