Lewis Hamilton's struggles continue at Azerbaijan Grand Prix

Lewis Hamilton remained optimistic about the season even as his Mercedes car continued to struggle in the ongoing Formula One season.

Hamilton heads into Sunday's Azerbaijan Grand Prix - the eighth round of 22 this season - already 75 points behind Max Verstappen.

And his Mercedes team were still tackling the porpoising problems which have wreaked havoc on their campaign as both Hamilton and team-mate George Russell suffered from heavy bouncing during practice on Friday.

He eventually came in 12th with Russell in the other Mercedes in seventh.

However, the British champion is optimistic Mercedes has made progress toward challenging the Formula One leaders and said the “adversity” of struggling to keep up has brought the team closer together.

Russell, who has finished ahead of Hamilton at every round bar the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix to move 34 points clear of his team-mate in the standings, finished seventh, 1.3 seconds off the pace.

"The hardest thing about today was the bouncing," said Hamilton. "I am a bit sore but I will get by.

"We're hitting serious speeds at the end of the straight and bottoming out. We're facing the same problems as in the last race.

Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc during practice for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. AFP

"We tried something experimental on my car in the second session, it didn't feel great but at least we tried it and we got some useful data to go through. We'll probably revert to the original set up tomorrow.

"I can't tell you one specific area which is costing us the 1.3 or 1.6 sec difference to the front - a lot of it seems to be on the straight - but we need to get our heads down tonight and find solutions."

“Can I say it’s the best, most exciting journey? No, but it is an