Tyre temperature woes leave Red Bull and Ferrari two seconds adrift of Mercedes in practice; Vettel and Ricciardo optimistic teams will be stronger for qualifying
Monday 20 June 2016 13:27, UK
Ferrari and Red Bull have vowed to find more pace around the Baku street circuit after trailing Mercedes by nearly two seconds on the first day of running in Azerbaijan.
Just a week after the rivals ran Mercedes close enough in Canadian qualifying for Toto Wolff to declare F1 was "coming back to normality" after two seasons of dominance by his team, the reigning champions enjoyed their most one-sided Friday since Bahrain in April.
Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg finished first and second respectively in both practice sessions, with Ferrari and Red Bull struggling with tyre temperatures and ending down in the lower reaches of the top 10 behind Mercedes engine customers Force India and Williams.
Sebastian Vettel was only eighth quickest in the lead Ferrari and admitted "it's not nice being a couple of seconds down".
He told Sky Sports News HQ: "So it's not good news. Some of it we can explain, for the rest of it we need to see what tomorrow brings.
"It's been a tricky day for us - perhaps not entirely clean when you look at raw pace but then again it's Friday so there is no need to worry too much I guess."
F1 drivers praise Baku circuit
Ferrari's pace problems appeared to be compounded by reliability issues after Kimi Raikkonen slid off the track with an apparent power unit fault and Vettel was instructed to return to the pits late in the session.
"I think we took a precaution, we were worried that something similar [to what happened to Kimi may have occurred] so we took it easy a lap from the end," he said. "Other than that I think we had a decent day. We did a lot of laps.
"It's a shame that one car had a problem but I think we did okay with the other one. The speed wasn't quite there so we'll have a look and see but I think we will be in a better position tomorrow."
Reliability problems and delays had earlier afflicted Red Bull in P1, when Max Verstappen completed just seven laps with an oil leak and Daniel Ricciardo crashed.
The team impressively returned both cars to the track for the start of the second session, yet finished only seventh and 10th.
"Straight-line speed here is pretty crucial and getting the tyres into the right window. We haven't found the sweetspot yet," team boss Christian Horner told Sky F1.
Ricciardo agreed Red Bull had yet to discover the best set-up for a circuit which requires a balance between downforce levels.
"We didn't have the speed today that we want for the rest of the weekend," the Australian said. "We have some work to do tonight but I think it's really interesting around here. The track is really challenging and that's a good thing. Combined with the low level of grip it definitely makes it hard to find a good setup.
Red Bull confirm Ricciardo deal
"I don't think we found that today but if we get it right tomorrow I think we will get quite a good chunk of laps in."
The 26-year-old had earlier suffered the ignominy of being the first driver to crash in Baku - a shunt he apologised to the team for.
"I was expecting someone to take out the barrier in Turn 8 first but I was the one who took it out in Turn 15!" he said.
"I felt a bit bad about it and I said sorry to the guys. I had a look at the onboard and I think everybody had a live feed of it but I don't think I overshot the braking or anything. I think I just came off the brakes too quick and carried too much speed into the corner and just lost the rear and gave it a good whack.
"That was that but I think on a positive note the guys did a pretty tremendous job in getting me back out for the start of FP2, allowing us to have a full session."
