Lewis Hamilton had a difficult first day in Baku. While the seven-time champion set the sixth best time in the first free practice, a few hours later he could only manage a P12 in TL2. According to him, this has a logical explanation, as he told Sky Sports.

Hamilton suffered badly again during the second practice session, due to changes in his car. So, where the problem that seemed to have practically disappeared in Barcelona, returned in Baku. "The car bounced too much today," is how Hamilton analyzes the situation.

The driver, therefore, hopes Mercedes will reverse the adjustments. "We tried something experimental on my car and, to be honest, it wasn't very good. At least we tried it, we got a lot of data, we'll go through it and probably go back to what we changed."

Mercedes faces challenge

George Russell may be a little more satisfied with Friday's practice sessions. However, with an eighth and seventh time, he didn't come close to Ferrari and Red Bull, so it looks like it will be another difficult task for Mercedes to contend with the top teams.

While TL1 and TL2 saw Russell consistently in the Top 10 with a P8 and P7 result, the Briton is far from satisfied with the feel and performance of his W13. Speaking to Sky Sports after Friday's final practice session, Russell went into more detail about the problems the team is facing.

Silver struggles with tire window

"It was a tricky day. We weren't as competitive as we would have liked. It's a tricky track to get the tires in the right window. We did our fastest laps coming in at the end of the stint, while Ferrari and Red Bull are able to get into the right window faster," said the Briton.

It was thought that after the Spanish GP, where Russell finished on the podium and Lewis Hamilton set the fastest times of the race, Mercedes had fixed the problems that had plagued them since the beginning of the year, but a hard blow back to reality in Monaco showed that this is not the case.

"Ferrari and Red Bull have a fundamentally faster car than us, and we are doing everything we can to catch up with them."

Russell finished TL2 1.3 seconds slower than Leclerc's time at the top of the grid, a far cry from the current dominance of the Bulls and Reds.