Leclerc, who has been on pole in Baku for the final 4 years, stated that McLaren’s potential had been hidden by the circumstances of the session.
“I did not do an amazing job in the present day however total we appear fairly robust so it is good,” he stated.
“However – and there is a massive however – it appears like McLaren are in one other world and I believe we are going to all be very stunned tomorrow, as a result of Lando did not end some laps that had been very, very spectacular.
“So I doubt we will likely be within the battle with them however in comparison with the others it appears we’re type of in a superb place.”
His opinion was backed up by Piastri’s tempo on the longer, race-simulation runs later within the session.
Piastri missed some working within the first session when his automobile suffered an engine drawback on his first lap out of the pits. A 20-minute red-flag interval to restore a broken kerb restricted the influence of that on the Australian.
“A bit tough,” Piastri stated. “A bit up and down. The tempo is there, simply not the simplest to get essentially the most out of it. We tried a number of issues in P2. We are going to look again and see what we will change for tomorrow. It will be completely different with tyre selections and stuff like that.”
Piastri was referencing the choice by tyre provider Pirelli to take its three softest compounds to this weekend for under the third time this 12 months. At each earlier races when this has been the case, the tempo distinction between the comfortable and medium tyres has been marginal.
Norris stated: “The observe’s very completely different to final 12 months and it is a softer compound we do not use that always – Monaco, Imola. I’m behind on the learnings.
“A scrappy session from my aspect and Oscar’s aspect. He appeared to be struggling a bit bit with the automobile as effectively, we are going to see what we will make up tomorrow.
“Ferrari had been simply the quickest right here final 12 months despite the fact that Oscar gained. Ferrari will likely be fast. Pink Bull are going to be fast. They’re by no means good on Friday. They fall asleep after which they get up and they’re fast once more.”
