Lewis Hamilton admits Ferrari's short-run pace might be out of reach for Mercedes after Azerbaijan GP practice.
The Briton ended the heavily day third fastest overall, but two-thirds of a second down on pacesetter Charles Leclerc around the streets of Baku.
Surprisingly, times suggested a reversal of the trend in China, with the German manufacturer rapid down the straights but struggling in the technical middle sector.
But Hamilton, who caught up on Game of Thrones following the cancellation of Practice 1, remains upbeat.
"It's been a bit of an odd day, but I still enjoyed it," he commented on the paddock afterwards.
"FP2 went really well, I was feeling good out there and I was more comfortable in the car than I was last year. However, the Ferraris are clearly very quick and it looks like they're quite a bit ahead of us.
"It's unlikely that we will find seven tenths overnight, but we'll do everything we can to push the car in the right direction."
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Hamilton is far from throwing in the towel though, seeing good potential for Sunday's race.
"Our long run pace looked a little bit stronger than our short run pace, so we'll need to try and find out why," the world champion added.
"It should be a good fight tomorrow; I'm always down for a fight and I think that's what the fans want to see, so I'm looking forward to tomorrow."
As for teammate Valtteri Bottas, he was a little less happy after struggling under braking with several trips down the escape roads.
"I'm not really pleased with the laps I did, but it's always a bit tricky to find the rhythm in Baku and it takes a bit of time," the Finn explained.
"It wasn't easy to get the Medium compound up to the right temperatures today, but corner speeds will increase due to track evolution, so we should be able to get a bit more energy into the tyres.
"Our long runs felt good and the pace didn't look too bad either, but we are a bit behind on single lap pace. Ferrari looked really strong, particularly on the short runs, so it will be a tough fight tomorrow."
