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.”
