Ferrari had downplayed their chances of pushing their impressive Monaco pace all the way to Baku, but after Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc finished free practice 2 for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix in P3 and P4, this seemed exactly what they did had done – both drivers admitted their performance was “better than expected”.
Leclerc was only 0.043 seconds behind Max Verstappen’s lead time in FP1 when Sainz finished third – while Sainz on P3 in the 2nd the barriers in turn 15 in the middle of the session.
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“I actually felt very comfortable in the car today, especially when braking,” said Leclerc. “Maybe a little too comfortably and pushing a little too much at Turn 15. But in the end it’s free practice. I have tried [to find] a bit of the limits.
“It’s definitely better than we expected, but it’s just FP1 and FP2. The pace looks promising. Now we will continue to work at night and will hopefully be so competitive tomorrow. “
2021 Azerbaijan GP FP2: Leclerc hits the barrier
“We’re definitely a bit faster than we might have expected,” agreed Sainz, who left his first Ferrari podium two weeks ago in Monaco. “But it’s also true that I got a couple of tugs on my good laps, on the long distance we didn’t see the pace very clearly, so the overall picture may not be as clear as it can be.
“Red Bull drove a particularly strong long run, which showed us that something is likely to come tomorrow,” added Sainz to prevent him from crashing.
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“In the short run we were decent, but in the long run we still have to analyze how we can make those rear tires work a little better in the window.
“At least it’s exciting. It looks like it isn’t easy for anyone and this could present opportunities. But we’re probably not as good as Monaco either, not as good as the lap times have shown, but still better than we expected. “
Carlos Sainz admits that Ferrari is “definitely not as fast” as it was in Monaco
Despite the promising look of the timesheets, Monaco polesitter Leclerc also reiterated his teammate’s slightly pessimistic note, particularly focusing on Ferrari’s main rivals McLaren, who he believes could be sand dredgers on Friday as Lando Norris and Daniel Ricciardo landed in 8th and 13th in FP2 – while Leclerc added that he expected Mercedes to recover from their disappointing day after Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas took P11 and P16 in FP2.
“McLaren is very, very fast but for some reason they didn’t show it today,” said Leclerc. “Maybe it was less clean compared to us, but I have the feeling that they are a bit ahead of us here, so we’ll have to wait tomorrow.
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“Definitely Red Bull” [are faster] and Mercedes – I don’t know exactly what happened either, but I’m pretty sure they’ll be up front and it’s basically going to be a battle with McLaren who are our main rivals, ”added Leclerc. “So we have to make sure that we do everything perfectly because they are making very few mistakes this year. So we’ll try to maximize our potential and hopefully be ahead of them tomorrow in qualifying. “
Only two points separate third-placed McLaren and fourth-placed Ferrari in the constructors’ championship before the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, McLaren with 80 and Ferrari’s 78.
