World champion Hamilton finished eleventh in the second free practice session for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, Bottas was in 16th place – just ahead of the drivers from Williams and Haas.
The two Mercedes men there said that their cars didn’t feel bad, but they just weren’t fast enough.
“It was very, very tricky for us today and we clearly lacked the pace,” said Bottas. “It feels like it’s just general grip, you know.
“The balance sheet is not that far away. Okay, the car may be a little unpredictable, but it feels like it’s lacking grip and sliding around. I think it will be a long night tonight. “
In the first free practice session, Hamilton finished seventh and Bottas tenth.
When asked whether the problem was more with the single lap speed than with long runs, Bottas said: “Maybe a little better in the long run, but we still lack the pace. That’s for sure. So I think something is fundamentally wrong and we have to find out what. “
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Hamilton said he was amazed why the Mercedes was so slow, especially since the day overall hadn’t felt awful from the cockpit.
“It feels clean, I did all the laps we needed, there were no real mistakes – I was suspended, I think in FP1,” he explained. “But in general I feel like I’m driving well and the car felt better in FP1, this one [FP2] there was simply no more time.
“So yeah, we are definitely quite a chunk. I think everyone will scratch their heads to find out and look at the data to see how we can improve. In the long run it was better, but yes. “
He added: “I pushed, I was at the limit, but the car is limited, there are areas where I should just be faster, but there is no more grip. So we’ll make it.
“It’s not easy to be in the top ten in one place when we’ve had pace in other places. But yes, I don’t really know why we are where we are. “
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