Honda: "There is still room for improvement in both chassis and power unit"

After a strong weekend in Monaco, Honda continues its good form in Azerbaijan. All four Honda cars were in the top ten after the second free practice session with Red Bull Racing's Sergio Perez and Max Verstappen in first and second. Honda chief Toyoharu Tanabe is looking back on a good first day in Baku.

Improving conditions

In the first free practice session Verstappen was on a good pace right from the start, but it wasn't all going to be easy yet. "On the first day of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, the road surface of this street circuit was very dirty, which was exacerbated by yesterday's very strong wind," said Tanabe in a press release from Honda. "However, the conditions improved as more cars were on the track. Today we saw that several cars missed their braking points and had to use the run-off lanes, which interrupted the sessions several times."

Verstappen was the fastest in the first free practice and Perez drove the fourth time. So all in all, a good day. "Still, all four of our drivers were able to make some good runs and got through the day without any major problems. In VT2 all four were in the top-ten, so that's a good start of the weekend for us."

Looking for the right set-up

Perez and Verstappen were the fastest on track today, but Tanabe is not yet daring to sit back. "It's difficult to find the right set-up at this circuit, so we can expect our rivals to make progress tomorrow." Ferrari in particular, as in Monaco, are close behind. Sainz conceded just a tenth to Perez's time in the second free practice session, with Leclerc following on three tenths.

Tanabe believes there is also room for improvement on the chassis and engine side for both teams. "We are now going to analyse all the data from today to see what we can do to be as good as possible in qualifying and the race."