Sergio Pérez held on to the top two positions in Friday’s session of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, beating team-mate Max Verstappen in both practice sessions to be the best Red Bull on the Baku street circuit.
During the morning, the Mexican topped the time table with a time of 1:45.476 , just over a tenth faster than Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari, and about three tenths faster than the current world champion’s RB18.
In the afternoon session, Pérez managed to be second after stopping the clock in a 1:43.472 with the soft tires. The Mexican’s time was just over two tenths slower than that of the leader, Leclerc, but better than that of his teammate, Verstappen.
Despite the fact that Checo improved his time in his first attempts, he lost pace in the last sector, an area where he had been strong in the first session.
“It was a good start to the day. The free seconds didn’t go as well as we would have liked, I think we went in some wrong directions because we were investigating and it didn’t work for us, we weren’t able to solve our problems,” said Pérez after getting off the Milton Keynes car.
“We have collected data on both tires as well as in the long run but it was the opposite with Max [Verstappen] so I think there is some good information for us to go over tonight and yes hopefully we will be able to put it all together tomorrow. for the qualification”, assured the Mexican.
The one from Guadalajara highlighted that the RB18 seems strong in long runs, a critical point in recent races, where they have outperformed the Ferraris. In addition to this, he quickly found confidence on a track where mistakes can cost him an accident against the wall, something he could suffer when he over-braked several times.
“In the beginning we were good, but there are a lot of details that we have to see, so there is still a good job ahead for tonight,” said the winner of the Monaco Grand Prix.
“I feel confident. I think that, as always, under braking you are always going to make some mistakes, but it is what we have at the moment, we have to try to solve it,” he said. “It’s been a solid day, Ferrari looked strong, especially in the second sector, in the corners, and we need to find something to be in the fight for tomorrow.”
