Sebastian Vettel explains Ferrari struggles in Baku practice. The Azerbaijan Grand Prix takes place on Sunday afternoon.

Scuderia Ferrari driver Sebastian Vettel has revealed that the Maranello team’s poor times in the first two practice sessions in Baku were not the Italian side’s fault, but his own. The four-time Formula One world champion finished the first two free practice sessions outside the top ten, despite currently leading the drivers’ table, ahead of the 2018 Azerbaijan Grand Prix, which will take place this weekend at the Baku City Circuit, a street circuit in Baku”

“This place is a little bit tricky to find the rhythm, it is not so easy. This morning I didn’t find it and at the beginning of the second session I wasn’t up to speed. But I was pretty happy with the long run in the end so it is OK. I think the car is fine. As I said, I didn’t get the laps together.” – the German driver said . The 30-year-old won the first two races of the 2018 season in Australia and Bahrain, but slipped to eighth place from pole position in China after making contact with Max Verstappen on lap 43.

“It can happen very easily here with little mistakes here in braking – but the long run was a lot better. We can improve the car a lot for tomorrow and then we should be OK. – he added. Sebastian Vettel’s Ferrari team-mate Kimi Raikkonen sat out most of the first session while changes were made to his car. In the second session Kimi finish second, only behind Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo. The Finnish driver explained: “It was not very easy to start with, so during the first practice we decided to switch to a different set-up. Unfortunately these kind of changes take quite a long time, but I’d rather skip or lose some track time in the first session and be ready in the second one. All in all, it was the right decision and our P2 was pretty decent. This is a street circuit but not a traditional one. There are things to improve as always, but we were not far from the top today. I think the long run was OK, the race pace looks good.” – Kimi concluded.

The Azerbaijan Grand Prix takes place on Sunday afternoon, with Lewis Hamilton hoping to win his first race of the season, while Sebastian Vettel and Ferrari will be looking for the third victory of the 2018 Formula 1 championship.