After their struggles in Monaco, Mercedes was expected to bounce back, but opening day of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix indicated that Red Bull find themselves in a very good shape despite the long straights of the Baku street circuit.

AlphaTauri

Pierre Gasly - FP1: 1:43.757, P6; FP2: 1:42.534, P5 “It’s been a very good Friday for us, a really positive P6 this morning and P5 this afternoon, at the moment I’m feeling very good in the car. I’m able to be quite aggressive and push the limits, I went over too far once or twice but that’s how we find the line and extract the maximum from the car. I’m pretty pleased so far, especially because we did the lap without any slip streams so potentially there’s more pace available to us tomorrow.”

“It’s fairly similar to Monaco here, you have to build up the pace and also confidence in the braking zones, as most of the corners need strong braking. I went into the run-off areas a few times but it was good practice for me to find the limit and luckily I didn’t go into the wall! I think the progress from FP1 to FP2 was good, I struggled a bit in the morning, so it was a good step up in FP2. There are a few areas I still need to work on, but the pace is definitely there this weekend, we just need to put it altogether tomorrow.”

Mercedes

"We had a clean run and worked through everything we needed to in both sessions - it just wasn't very fast! The car felt better in P1 but in the second session, there just wasn't more time in it - I was pushing hard but we were struggling for grip. We're definitely a chunk of time down and I think everyone will be scratching their heads tonight, looking into the data to figure out what the issue is. The long runs were slightly better but there's lots of work to do."

"It was very tricky for us today, we are clearly lacking pace and it feels like we're missing overall grip and sliding around. Monaco wasn't easy but at least we were more or less there for qualifying. It's been more of a challenging day than we anticipated and we need to figure out why. We were slightly better on the long runs but we're still lacking pace. So overall not an easy day with lots of work to do - I think it's going to be a long night."

Ferrari

“It was definitely a better day than we expected, but it’s only the first day of practice. The pace looked promising, and we will keep working overnight to be as competitive tomorrow. I felt quite comfortable in the car today, especially in terms of braking, maybe even too comfortable, pushing a bit too much into Turn 15. But in the end, that’s what free practice is for – testing the limits.

„I was on a good lap there and we will see what we can do tomorrow. Our main competitors are quick, even though they haven’t shown it yet. We have to make sure we do everything perfectly. We have to maximize our potential and hopefully we can have a good qualifying.”

“Today we were a bit quicker than we had expected. However, the time sheets can be misleading, with cars getting tows on the straights – myself included – and others not finishing flying laps for various reasons. Still, it was an encouraging first day for the team here in Baku. Tomorrow afternoon will obviously be a better indicator ahead of qualifying, so we need to work out where we can gain a bit of lap time on the short runs, as well as finding a good compromise to make the tyres work on the long runs. There could be opportunities this weekend and we need to be ready to make the most of them.”

McLaren

“It was a pretty good day. We certainly found a few things and made progress. The lap times don’t always tell the full story, and 13th doesn’t show much, but I think we’re a lot closer than that. Obviously, we’ve still got to work hard to make it happen, but I think today was certainly a step in the right direction and I feel more comfortable and confident going into tomorrow.”

"A decent day. Hot! But on the whole, I think it wasn't too bad. FP1, we looked quite good; FP2 we struggled a little bit more, so we’ll try to understand and see if it was anything we did with the set-up or the conditions. A lot of room for improvement going into tomorrow, so we’ll see what we can do with our data tonight and work out how we can improve the car.”

Alpine

“Overall we had a decent day, with good understanding and lots of data, especially on the longer runs. There are obviously some things we need to go through tonight but both cars finished in the top ten in the afternoon. The track was quite dirty this morning but made a huge improvement in FP2. On my side I was not completely happy with the car, but we know the direction we need to take for the rest of the weekend, which is positive: we obviously need to keep this momentum tomorrow.”

“It was a positive Friday for us today and good to be back driving in Baku. The car felt good straight away in FP1 and we didn’t play around too much with the setup. We tried some different tyre combinations just to understand the needs of the entire weekend and we will take some valuable data from this. Overall, it was a good start to the weekend, but we know there are some other areas of performance for us to still unlock.”

Alfa Romeo

“It was a good way to start the weekend, the car felt ok from the morning session but of course there is still a lot that can be improved. In the end, there were a few interruptions with the yellow and red flags, which broke up the day a little, but it’s the same for everyone and we have to deal with it. We will see what we can improve on the car tonight: hopefully we can have a strong day tomorrow.”

“The car felt good from the start: FP1 wasn’t too bad and we made a step forward in the second session. I am happy with what we saw in both the qualifying and the race simulations. It’s only Friday but I’m satisfied to be seventh in the standings, hopefully we can carry on this form tomorrow. There are still a few little things to improve, of course, but we can be happy so far. Tomorrow we will need to put everything together, as always, and make sure we make the most of the tow as it will be critical. We will try our best and hopefully have a good result.”

Red Bull

"Performance wise I think we had a great start to the weekend here in Baku. It was quite windy out there today which wasn’t easy for any of us, but it definitely makes things more interesting. In FP1 the car felt pretty decent, I was quite comfortable and then for FP2 we made a few changes to see if it was better but I don’t think it was, so we’ll look into that overnight and see what direction we will go for qualifying. So far I think we look pretty strong as a Team and I’m very happy with that so let’s see what we can do tomorrow.”

“I’m happy with today and I think we’ve definitely made some good progress. We did a very good analysis after Monaco and today felt like I am understanding the car more and how I need to drive it. I think this is probably the best Friday of the season for me, it’s the most complete in terms of data and how comfortable I feel with the car. Hopefully we can get a good, clean lap in qualifying tomorrow which is when it matters, but we’ll still work hard tonight to improve and try to find some more lap time.”

Aston Martin

“We covered plenty of laps and end the day feeling satisfied that we have done our homework. The track was in good shape from the start, but obviously improved quite a bit during the day. It is a tricky circuit at the best of times, but by the end of the sessions I was finding a nice rhythm.

„During my laps on the soft tyres, I did not maximise everything and I am sure it is the same for the others because there were a lot of yellow flags, especially this afternoon. So there is more to come. The long runs were a bit cleaner and I have a good feel for the car already. Let’s see where we can improve overnight.”

“It is great to be driving in Baku. It is a place that holds special memories for me and it is great fun to drive here. It is so high-speed; you are constantly close to the wall, and it is a challenge for the driver. You can gain a lot of lap time under braking because you arrive at high speeds, and getting the braking point right really helps bring a lap together. I think we made some good progress with the car today; we learned a lot about the set-up and I think we can make further gains with car balance. We will go away tonight, review it all, and try to make improvements for tomorrow.”

Williams

"It was a tough day here in Baku. Our competitors are looking a little faster than we expected, but I think with some hard work tonight and the right changes to the set-up we can find some lap time. I wasn’t pushing the boundaries massively as it’s only practice so it’s about getting the laps under my belt and finding a rhythm. Hopefully I can make it count when it matters tomorrow; Q2 is the goal for me and I think it’s possible if we can put absolutely everything together. Above all, I think the race on Sunday is going to be really interesting."

"In FP2, I moved out of the way of another car but couldn't turn back left to get back onto the track. In the time it took me to reverse from the escape road the power unit got too hot; the safety measures put in place to make sure it doesn't get damage kicked in and it shut off. Unfortunately, that was the end of my session.

"You don't want to miss track time, especially on a street circuit, so it's not ideal but we will make the best of it and see what we can do. Q2 is still the objective for us as a team but we need to see where we are in FP3 tomorrow."

Haas

“The track was quite dirty to begin with this morning and it didn’t really clean up through the first session. With F2 running it did clean up a bit for FP2. Unfortunately, we didn’t get all the laps in that we wanted. I had a few issues, but I still got to do one flying lap on the C5 and one or two laps with high fuel. We will probably have to change engines back to the first PU so we will find out and hopefully everything will be fine for tomorrow. In general, we have stuff to learn but we have done quite a bit already and now it’s about putting the puzzle together to be in a good window for FP3 and then for qualifying.”

“I really enjoyed today; I think we’re in a good place. We made some important steps forward. Although the car isn’t performing on high and low downforce tracks, the things that we are able to extract, in terms of the set-up of the car, are encouraging. There’s obviously plenty to go through but today has definitely gone to plan. In terms of feedback, I felt that tyre overheating on long runs is a big issue, not only for us but for other competitors. The track is very low grip and that makes the asphalt just overheat the tyres, that’s just something I have to get used to coming from Monaco and Barcelona. I think long runs were our stronger point today though. At the moment where we stand on Friday, I’m not imagining that we’ll go forward too much come Sunday, but who knows, maybe Saturday and Sunday can bring some surprises.”