27/04/2018
NEWS STORY
On a track which sees constant improvement as the asphalt cleans up and more rubber is laid down, Kimi Raikkonen made the best of the set-up improvements established in the first session to go second fastest in Practice 2. Team-mate Sebastian Vettel never managed a fast lap run (both using Ultrasofts) and subsequently focused on long runs for the remainder of the late afternoon session.
Kimi Raikkonen: "It was an ok day. It was not very easy to start with, so during the first practice we decided to switch to a different set up. Unfortunately these kind of changes take quite a long time, but I'd rather skip or lose some track time in the first session and be ready in the second one. All in all, it was the right decision and our P2 was pretty decent. This is a street circuit but not a traditional one. The grip was really limited, especially since low downforce settings are used here. For sure there are things to improve as always, but we were not far from the top today. I think the long run was ok, the race pace looks good. Now we have to analyze all the data and see what we can do for tomorrow."
Sebastian Vettel: "I think that in this place it is quite tricky to find the rhythm and in the first session I didn't. At the beginning of the second one I lacked pace and could not put the lap together, but that can happen very easily here. I made some mistakes under braking, but I think that the long run was a little better. I think we can improve the car for tomorrow and it should be ok. It's just the beginning after all. We have to understand what the car needs and we have a little bit of time to reset. Hopefully, it can be better tomorrow."
Check out our Friday gallery from Baku, here.