Both Charles Leclerc and Sebastian Vettel anticipate Mercedes will pull clear of Ferrari despite lacking pace on Friday in Baku.

The Monegasque effectively led both sessions in Azerbaijan's capital, though the first 90 minutes was cancelled after just 15 following George Russell's collision with a drain cover.

At the end of the day, Leclerc's advantage sat at a third of a second over his teammate and two-thirds of the second clear of Hamilton, but he's not convinced that pace is representative.

"I’m quite confident with the car, quite confident with the track, so overall it’s a good day,” he said. “But looking at their [Mercedes'] pace in the race run, I expect quite a lot more from them tomorrow in qualifying.

“They were very quick on the long runs, so there is no reason they are slow on the short runs. I am sure tomorrow when they put everything together, it’s going to be very tight.”

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Vettel went further in his assessment and explained what he thinks will be "decisive" to getting it right in qualifying.

“Mercedes will be the ones to beat. Red Bull also looked fast at times so I think it will be close tomorrow," he predicted.

“Here, to be honest, it’s mostly about having the confidence in the car with so many big stops after high-speed braking and very little reference. It’s easy to do mistakes over the bumps and go straight.

“Overall I think it will be decisive tomorrow to have a good feel with the car and that’s what we are working towards.”

In an effort to make up for the lack of performance last time out in China, Ferrari has brought several upgrades for this weekend.

But after a disrupted day with one session cancelled and two red flags in the other, the four-time world champion admits an evaluation of their impact isn't yet possible.

“It’s tough to say, the track was quite poor, slippery and dusty," he said.

“It took a while to ramp up, maybe tomorrow will be a better day to make a final judgement but it felt good. All the numbers seemed to stack up so that’s a good sign.

“We crossed checked as much as we could this morning so let’s see tomorrow how fast we can be.”