Lewis Hamilton Goes Fastest in FP2 at Baku – ‘Thank The Lord’

Scuderia Ferrari Formula One driver Lewis Hamilton has opened up after leading the timesheet in the second free practice session at the Baku City Circuit. Hamilton emphasized, saying, “Thank the lord,” while addressing the positive run that arrived after a long time with the red team.

Hamilton’s FP2 achievement comes two weeks after the race at Monza, where the energy from fans motivated him to push harder, helping him recover four places after starting from P10, and finishing sixth.

The second session saw Hamilton beat his teammate Charles Leclerc, suggesting that he was finally getting to grips with the SF-25 F1 car, with which he faced significant challenges mid-season.

The positive turnaround could be a sign of Hamilton getting comfortable with his car. Addressing his impressive FP2 run, which came after the difficulties he faced in FP1, he said:

“Thank the lord. It really has [been a positive day], thank the lord.

“It started out it wasn’t so positive. I’d say P1 was a bit of a mess. This is a circuit where you have to have mega confidence on the brakes, and I had some problems with the brakes. Every track I’m going to is the first time I’m driving the Ferrari at that circuit, so acclimatizing to that is not easy. Then we made some changes going into P2, and the brakes finally were working perfectly and I was able to make some quick, big advantage in terms of gaining on the brakes.”

The 40-year-old driver highlighted the progress his team has made over the last few weeks. He added:

“So I’m really happy to see the progress. It just goes to show the direction we’ve been going as a team. I’m really, really grateful for everyone’s patience and everyone pushing so hard, because we’re really starting to see the progress come through.”

However, Hamilton refrained from being carried away by the enhanced performance, given that this was just a practice session, although he did acknowledge the improvement again. He said:

“It’s just a practice day. I would say let’s not go too far. I would say I am really grateful for everyone continuing to push. The support I’ve been getting back from everyone at the factory, everyone here, their patience and their support every weekend just lifting me up, the guys in the garage, all of our marketing team, they’re really making a big difference.

“And then the tifosi — we’ve been beaming from the energy from the tifosi in the last race. I’m hoping to take that energy that they gave us all the way through the rest of the season.”