Mercedes might not have had the ‘smoothest’ day in Baku, but both Lewis Hamilton and George Russell are encouraged ahead of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix

As far as Fridays go, the Friday ahead of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix was a strong one for Lewis Hamilton in Baku.

The seven-time champion posted the second-fastest time during FP1 and was third-fastest in FP2. While he ran a mix of laps on the medium and then the soft compound in FP1, Hamilton saw all three compounds bolted onto his W15 for the second session.

Could this be a sign that Mercedes are in the mix this weekend?

“Today was a really good day. I enjoyed it from the start as the car felt strong from the first laps on track,” said Hamilton in the team’s post-practice report. “We made some positive incremental steps on the set-up. There was nothing we had to come back on, and we continued to build throughout.”

Hamilton did offer some words of caution regarding their longer runs, as there might still be some questions the team needs to answer.

“Pace wise, we didn’t complete a huge number of laps on our long run in FP2. We will have to do some comparisons tonight therefore to see where our relative speed is. Our usual competitors looked strong, but I think we are there or thereabouts,” added Hamilton. “That is encouraging and was our hope coming into this weekend. We will stay cautious and vigilant though. We will work hard tonight to try and find more gains and see what we can do in qualifying tomorrow.”

Things were a little tougher for George Russell on the other side of Mercedes’ garage, as Russell was just P8 in FP1 and P9 in FP2. Russell also lost some time as the team needed to make a “precautionary” power unit change. Still, while it was not the “smoothest” of days for Russell, he is encouraged heading into the weekend, particularly by Hamilton’s pace.

“Today wasn’t the smoothest Friday we’ve ever had. Unfortunately, we lost a little bit of running time with a precautionary power unit change ahead of FP2,” described Russell. “Once we were out on track, I wasn’t completely happy with the balance of the car. I was struggling to get the tires in the right window and was lacking a little confidence. I’ll work hard overnight to improve on that, step my game up for tomorrow and close the gap.

”The good news is that Lewis was looking very quick out there. It encourages us that the car is strong, and we can be competitive this weekend,” added Russell. “It looks very close between several teams, with Ferrari in particular looking strong. If we can make improvements overnight though we can aim to be in the mix for qualifying and the race on Sunday.”