"I think we are there or thereabouts": Lewis Hamilton shares optimistic outlook for Mercedes at the F1 Azerbaijan GP

Lewis Hamilton shared a positive outlook for the F1 Azerbaijan GP, as he felt that the car was there and thereabouts as compared to the competition at the front of the grid. Mercedes has not had the best second half of the season as the two races have seen the team struggle to compete at the sharp end in a manner it used to before the summer break.

Before the summer break, the team had 3 wins in four races, but in the two races after that, neither Lewis Hamilton nor George Russell have been able to even contend for the podium. The running on Friday, however for the German team left Lewis impressed, as the driver's fastest time was less than a tenth slower than the fastest by Charles Leclerc.

The driver appeared to be in strong form and unlike his teammate George Russell who could not get much running in due to power unit issues, Lewis ran the complete program without much of a hassle. Talking to F1TV, after the day, Lewis Hamilton looked upbeat as he claimed that the car was there or thereabouts when compared to its rivals. He said,

"Today was a really good day. 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."

He added,

"We will have to do some comparisons tonight therefore to see where our relative speed is. Our usual competitors looked strong, but. 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.”

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Contrasting comments from Lewis Hamilton and his teammate

Lewis Hamilton's teammate George Russell had contrasting comments for the day as the driver was unable to find the sweet spot with the car.

The driver didn't have enough running on the track and hence took solace from the fact that Lewis Hamilton looked quite comfortable in the car on Friday. Looking back at the running, George said,

"I wasn’t completely happy with the balance of the car. I was struggling to get the tyres in the right window and was lacking a little confidence. I’ll work hard overnight to improve on that, step my game up for tomorrow and close the gap."

Qualifying is going to be crucial for both Mercedes drivers, and it will be interesting to see if either of them can nail things and get in the mix for the rest of the weekend.