The China Mail - Hamilton beaming after Ferrari 1-2 in Baku practice as McLaren struggle

As the title-chasing McLaren duo, series leader Oscar Piastri and closest rival Lando Norris, experienced a difficult afternoon of scrapes and suspension failures, seven-time champion Hamilton was feeling optimistic.

The 40-year-old finished the session with a best lap of 1min 41.29sec to edge 0.074sec ahead of Baku maestro Leclerc, who is chasing a fifth consecutive pole on the intimidating street track.

"We're really starting to see the progress come through," said Hamilton of a "positive day" following months of struggling to settle in at Ferrari.

"It really has been (positive)," he said. "Thank the Lord! Early on, it wasn't so positive and I would say the first practice was a bit of a mess."

Hamilton hit the wall at Turn Five during the morning session damaging his front wing and picking up a puncture.

"This is a circuit where you have to have mega-confidence on the brakes and I had some problems with the brakes," said the British driver.

"We made some changes going into (FP2) and the brakes finally were working perfectly. I was able to really make some big advantages.

"I'm really happy to see the progress -- and it just goes to show the direction we've been going as a team," he added, although stressing that this was "just a practice day".

Hamilton is bidding for a record-increasing 106th win -- and first since last year's Belgian Grand Prix –- on Sunday, which would make him the first F1 driver to score 5,000 points.

- McLaren 'in another world' -

McLaren endured a scrappy day of accidents and problems as Piastri and Norris wound up 12th and 10th respectively.

Norris, who is 31 points behind Piastri in the championship, began the day well enough, clocking the best time in the morning session as the pair posted an impressive 1-2.

But it went pear-shaped when the Briton crashed in the second session, smacking the wall at Turn Four. He damaged his car's suspension and left rear wheel.

He limped back to the pits and missed most of the action.

Leclerc nevertheless believes McLaren will come back strongly.

"I didn't do a great job today but overall we seem pretty strong so it's good," he said.

"But, and there's a big but, it looks like McLaren are in another world and I think we will all be very surprised tomorrow, because Lando didn't finish some laps that were very, very impressive.

"So I doubt we will be in the fight with them but compared to the others it seems we are kind of in a good place."

Norris admitted his crash was "a costly one, especially here".

"It was feeling good until then, but I'd rather have this and push and find the limits, than not find the limits at all," he added.

"But it is what it is and I'll have to make up for it tomorrow."

Piastri then brushed the wall at Turn 15, returning to the pits for a check-up.

He was released to continue but caused another scare in the McLaren garage when he locked up at Turn Two with 20 minutes remaining, a signal not only that he was pushing hard in his long run laps, but also that Baku bites any indiscretion.

"A bit tricky, yeah," said the 24-year-old Piastri, seeking to become Australia's third champion and first since Alan Jones in 1980.

"Just a bit up and down. I think the pace is there, it's just not the easiest to get the most out of it at the moment so that's probably just the main thing.

"I think there's still a lot of positives from today -- just a few tricky moments."

M.Chau--ThChM