Verstappen to go faster but with more control

Lewis Hamilton needs his luck to change in Azerbaijan.

The eighth-placed driver on this year’s championship leaderboard is seen as a future world champion, having already won three Grands Prix, but he has also been advised to calm down by current and former drivers including his father and former F1 driver Jos.

Mercedes, though, sounds keen to pair Ricciardo with Hamilton. The pair finished fourth and fifth respectively and over 0.75s behind Ricciardo. ‘I feel that we come across quite differently, but there are similarities there.

“This year is going to be tough”, he added. “The auto felt really good but I encountered a lot of problems which ultimately meant I missed out on a potential podium, perhaps even a win”.

The 28-year-old Australian is prepared to bring the curtain down on his decade-long relationship with Red Bull if the sport’s former champions can not provide the machinery to fight for glory.

“The others have definitely stepped up”.

“Even if we don’t say qualify front row, I think we’ll still have a very strong race auto”. “It’s always easier to catch up than to be a pioneer”.

However, Vettel said his lack of pace was caused only by his own driving. We’ll just roll on with this tomorrow and Sunday.

The Dutch driver, whose season has been littered with collisions, ended up sixth fastest but still quicker than Ferrari’s championship leader Sebastian Vettel who was 10th but without setting a representative time. “The track is very narrow there, and you must be very precise as a driver”, he said.

Daniel Ricciardo won in China two weeks ago. Tempers flared, with Hamilton and Vettel making contact behind the safety vehicle.

Hamilton, who trails Vettel by nine points in the title race after failing to win in any of this year’s opening three events, said he felt confident his Mercedes team would resolve their issues with tyre performance.

That’s also a factor in Ricciardo’s musings about a possible move to Mercedes or Ferrari next year.

“On short runs I’m still fine-tuning a bit what I lost in first practice but in the long runs I think we were very competitive”. It’s a nice circuit even though it isn’t ideally suited to our auto.

“But the engineers could not explain why I was so quick in qualifying and why I was quick in the race and why others weren’t”.

Verstappen further noted that Baku is a cool place. Speed is crucial in Baku – and Williams doesn’t have the pace. “And through the media as well they say they are interested in keeping me”. “Of course you want to improve, and we know that in qualifying they have this power mode, so they will be even closer”.