Lewis Hamilton experienced a difficult Friday in Baku, finishing FP2 in a humble 10th place after he struggled to get a clear lap in on the new tires.
However, his Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas demonstrated the pace of the W08 with a more representative second place, behind the Red Bull of Max Verstappen, leaving Hamilton upbeat about prospects for the rest of the weekend.
“We don’t sandbag, there’s zero benefit to sandbagging,” said Hamilton. “And I can assure you that’s not the case. Right now we’re fighting, the car is sometimes good, sometimes not good. Right now we’re trying to figure out how we can make the car be where it needs to be.