23/06/2017
NEWS STORY
Max Verstappen: "The whole day has been really positive, except the last lap, everything has been working well. From lap one I felt comfortable in the car, it was handling really well and I was confident with the setup. I think the preparation we did at the factory and in the simulator has allowed us to come here with a strong setup and competitive car from the go. This has definitely been the most positive Friday of the year so far. In the second session I felt I couldn't get the maximum out of the short run pace due to yellow flags and traffic so we can be very happy to still finish P1. It feels like the cars are quicker through the corners this year, this means if you have a lock up in can be more critical. We are confident heading into Qualifying but also wary that Mercedes will turn their engines up a bit. We are on top at the end of Friday which means they have to catch up so it will be exciting in the session tomorrow. At the end I locked up at turn 1, I could see I wasn't going to make the corner so decided to take the run off, as I turned right I lost the rear and ended up sliding into the wall."
Daniel Ricciardo: "It's been a good day for myself and Max and great that we were in the top three in both sessions. Even though I was second fastest this morning I wasn't fully content with my session and I knew there was still room to improve in myself and the car. I believe we made those improvements this afternoon and I'm generally a lot happier with where we ended the day. This afternoon was a lot more entertaining, the grip was coming and you could really start to push the car. There's not much room for error and it's a pretty high risk circuit in terms of mistakes but that makes it really challenging and rewarding. When you are able to put in a good lap you cross the finish line and smile. Like always, we should not celebrate on a Friday but we are in the ball park, so hopefully tomorrow we can stay at the front."
Check out our Friday gallery from Baku, here.