Friday Team Quotes

McLaren Formula 1 Team

Lando Norris (10th, 1:42.199): “A bit frustrating to have made that small but costly mistake, but I’d rather push and find the limits, than not. 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.”

Oscar Piastri (12th, 1:42.295): “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.”

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.”

Scuderia Ferrari HP

Lewis Hamilton (1st, 1:41.293): “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.”

Charles Leclerc (2nd, 1:41.367): “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.”

Oracle Red Bull Racing

Max Verstappen (6th, 1:41.902): “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 (14th, 1:42.444): “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.”

Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team

George Russell (3rd, 1:41.770): “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.”

Andrea Kimi Antonelli (4th, 1:41.779): “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.”

Aston Martin Aramco F1 Team

Lance Stroll (17th, 1:42.771): “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.”

Fernando Alonso (19th, 1:42.967): “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.”

BWT Alpine F1 Team

Pierre Gasly (16th, 1:42.674): “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 (20th, 1:43.322): “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.”

MoneyGram Haas F1 Team

Oliver Bearman (5th, 1:41.891): “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.”

Esteban Ocon (8th, 1:42.167): “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 tire 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.”

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 analyze it tonight. We need to pick the right set-up configuration, finetune it all, and understand the tires tomorrow morning, before delivering it in qualifying.”

Visa Cash App Racing Bulls F1 Team

Liam Lawson (7th, 1:41.989): “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.”

Isack Hadjar (13th, 1:42.443): “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.”

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.”

Williams Racing

Alexander Albon (9th, 1:42.177): “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 (11th, 1:42.255): “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.”

Stake F1 Team Kick Sauber

Gabriel Bortoleto (15th, 1:42.561): “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.”

Nico Hulkenberg (18th, 1:42.820): “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.”