Vips pleased with one-lap pace, but feels getting a slipstream will be the key to pole

Despite topping his first session of the season by more than seven-tenths, Jüri Vips was remaining realistic ahead of Qualifying, admitting that Free Practice didn’t teach the team too much. Although the Hitech Grand Prix driver said that one thing’s for sure: “to secure pole, I think we’ll definitely need to secure a slipstream.”

Vips didn’t trouble the top of the leaderboard too often during the early stages of the session as he focused on getting to grips with the Baku City Circuit, but the Estonian pulled off a storming late lap to go nearly a second and a half faster than the rest of the grid.

A swift response from previous leader Ralph Boschung was still 0.766s off Vips, and the Red Bull junior hailed his team’s speed after the session, but insisted he was remaining cautious as he expects the rest of the field to catch up if they get a cleaner qualifying. And if they don’t, he expects luck to play a part.

“I just got one clean lap in at the end at a pretty optimal place,” he explained. “I have been caught out in previous sessions. You can get blocked at the wrong time. It was a bit of a messy session, and I was blocked a couple of times here.

“I think we only managed around three push laps because there were VSC's and stuff like that, but good feelings initially. Every lap we did we were quite competitive. It is a promising start to the weekend. I think if Qualifying is cleaner, then others will put the laps together and the gaps will be closer.

“We are still trying to improve the car a little bit, as well as myself, and there are still things to find. Hopefully, we will be strong, but we need to put a clean lap together and have a clean session.”

Another reason for Vips’ vigilance is the nature of the track, with the Estonian pointing out that unlike in Monte Carlo, Qualifying holds much less weight in Azerbaijan.

“I discussed this with my engineer,” he continued. “The biggest thing you get in Qualifying if you do well is four points (for pole), but otherwise it doesn't make a huge difference where you start here.

“(In GP2) here, I think (Pierre) Gasly and (Antonio) Giovinazzi were last and second last halfway through the Sprint Race, and they ended up first and second, so anything can happen.

“The one-lap pace here doesn't hold as much weight as what you do in the race does, and how you are clever with the safety cars and the starts. It is a whole different discipline of racing here, but I am happy to see that the one-lap pace is strong.

"I would definitely like the four points this afternoon."