Hamilton doesn't want to get carried away despite "encouraging" day in Baku

The seven-time world champion was close to setting the fastest time in FP1, but Max Verstappen threw a spanner in the works for the Briton. All in all, a successful day for the 39-year-old driver, who is leaving for Ferrari after this season. Hamilton also had a positive second free practice session. He was third fastest, behind only Charles Leclerc and Sergio Perez. The Brit can, therefore, look back on a good day for Mercedes.

Mercedes opted to take off the floor upgrade which was first applied on Friday in Belgium. Mercedes took it off for the meaningful sessions at Spa, but it returned in Zandvoort and Monza. Mercedes experienced difficult weekends and admitted some confusion about the new floor. Going back to the successful floor, which helped end Hamilton's win drought at Silverstone, seems to have been a successful move.

Hamilton satisfied

"Today was a really good day," Hamilton said after the second free practice session. "I enjoyed it from the start as the car felt strong from the first laps on track. 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."

"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. 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," Hamilton concluded.

This article has been created in collaboration with Estéban den Toom

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