The Mercedes drivers were left looking for solutions after struggling to match the pace set by Red Bull on Friday at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
Following the glorious one-two finish in Canada, practice in Baku was more reminiscent of events in Monaco, as Lewis Hamilton was only 10th quickest albeit without completing a qualifying-style run on the supersoft tyres.
Valtteri Bottas was again the driver best able to adapt to the German works team’s tyre warm-up issues on the smooth asphalt, as the Finn ended the day second to pacesetter Max Verstappen, but that was all the British driver could draw on, as he said adjustments will be needed to optimise performance
“It was a difficult day out there. This circuit is a tough one and we had a few challenges that we tried to work through today,” the three-time champion said.
“We’ve clearly still got lots of work to do ahead of qualifying, but Valtteri’s time in FP2 looked promising, so there is obviously pace in the car, which is encouraging.
“Now it’s just a case of getting our heads together tonight to work out exactly how to extract that pace across the entire weekend.”
For his view, Bottas also admitted his Mercedes had been a handful, however, he felt progress had been made throughout the day especially comparing FP1 to FP2.
“Practice 1 was quite tricky, we were struggling with the setup of the car and it wasn’t so well balanced,” the Russian GP winner explained.
“Today, we needed multiple laps in a row to generate the temperatures we want for a good balance.
“FP1 wasn’t a happy session, but we made some changes ahead of FP2 and the car definitely felt more comfortable. We are moving in the right direction and hopefully, we’ll make another step this evening.
“We’ll work hard and if we can find those gains we’ll be right up there fighting for pole position.”