"Thank the Lord": Lewis Hamilton all smiles after encouraging first day in the F1 Azerbaijan GP

Ferrari driver Lewis Hamilton was relieved after he topped the FP2 session at the 2025 Azerbaijan Grand Prix on Friday. It has been a struggle for the seven-time world champion in his first year with the Italian team, as he has failed to gel with the tricky SF-25 consistently.

The Brit had made a high-profile switch to the Maranello-based outfit at the start of the year after ending his 12-year partnership with Mercedes. Although there have been some positive shoots of performance in his first year, those results have been far and few in between.

Hence, it was a surprise for everyone to see Lewis Hamilton topping the FP2 session in Baku ahead of his teammate Charles Leclerc to cap off a promising Friday for Ferrari. In his interview with F1.com after the session, Lewis Hamilton was relieved with the performance after a rollercoaster year, saying:

“It really has [been] – thank the Lord! It wasn’t so positive [early on]… I would say [Free Practice 1] 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. Also, every track I’m going to is the first time driving the Ferrari at that circuit, so acclimatising to that is not easy."

Since the summer break, Hamilton has largely been on an upward trend in terms of his performances and has seemingly closed the gap to Leclerc in qualifying and main races.

Lewis Hamilton gives his honest take on Ferrari's potential in Baku

Ferrari driver Lewis Hamilton stated that he was cautious regarding the SF-25's potential and performance around the Baku City Circuit this weekend, despite being competitive in both FP1 and FP2.

As quoted by the aforementioned source, the 40-year-old reflected and said:

“It’s just practice day. I’d say let’s not go too far. I just want to say that I really am grateful for everyone continuing to push, the support I’ve been getting back from everyone at the factory, everyone here, their patience, 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.

“Then the Tifosi, we’ve been beaming from the energy from the Tifosi in the last race [at Monza] – I’m hoping to take that energy that they gave us all the way through the rest of the season.”

Lewis Hamilton has not finished ahead of Charles Leclerc since his P4 finish in Silverstone a couple of months back and would hope to change the trend in Baku, which is Leclerc's strongest track, arguably.

The duo would also look to replicate their pace from the first two practice sessions throughout the rest of the weekend to give Ferrari the chance to notch its first victory of the year.