Hamilton: This is my best practice since the start of the season.

      Although the first free practice session in Baku was interrupted by red flags due to problems on the track, which cost a lot of time, the second practice for Ferrari went smoothly.

      The Scuderia drivers completed 74 laps during the day, on one of which Lewis Hamilton set the best time of Friday – 1:41.293. Charles Leclerc was only 0.074 seconds behind his team-mate.

      On the first day of the Baku weekend the Italian team assessed the behaviour of the softest compounds, C6 and C5, and also compared the effectiveness of different aerodynamic configurations.

      Lewis Hamilton (1st): “Overall the day was productive. During the first practice there were difficulties because I needed to get used to these brakes, but by the second session we made some decent setup adjustments.

      My impressions of the car immediately became much better, everything started to come together, and with each lap I was driving with more confidence. It’s great that the second session went well – it was probably my best practice since the start of the season.

      Its results confirm our progress, and although there are still a number of areas where we can improve while preparing for tomorrow, I believe we are moving in the right direction.”

      Charles Leclerc (2nd): “I think this weekend we can expect a stronger result. Today I handled things fairly well, but I want to squeeze more out of the car. It seems our rivals are very strong, and I expect there could be surprises in tomorrow’s qualifying.

      However, anything can happen on this track, so we’ll see how the cards fall tomorrow. In qualifying we’ll try to fight for a good starting position.”