Despite a few trips down escape roads around the Baku Street Circuit on Friday, Sebastian Vettel ended his afternoon with the fifth fastest time, having completed the first session in third.
The current championship leader admitted it was difficult to find a rhythm on Friday, with the Scuderia Ferrari ace ending up more than half-a-second down on pacesetter Max Verstappen, and although he was only 0.253 seconds down in the second session, he found himself shuffled down to fifth.
Vettel is hoping to make progress with his SF70H on Saturday in order to be more competitive, but despite his off-track moments and the apparent strong pace from Red Bull Racing, he remains confident of a good weekend in Azerbaijan.
“We tried something in the afternoon, but I think it is difficult to find the rhythm here as the track is not easy,” said Vettel. “I believe I was not the only one to go down the escape roads. However, tomorrow is another day.
“I think we are close. Red Bull is very fast and today it was not just for one lap but throughout both sessions. However, I was pretty happy with our overall job. The straight here is very long, so you have to make sure you are quick enough there. Maybe we may still want to try a couple of things even tomorrow.”
