Nico Rosberg says Mercedes' run plan has left him playing catch-up in Baku after a late stoppage in Friday practice ahead of the Grand Prix of Europe.
Rosberg finished nearly seven tenths behind Hamilton in FP2 and ended the session prematurely when he pulled to the side of the track with 20 minutes to go after suffering a loss of power. Before his timed lap on super-softs Rosberg had done the majority of his running on the harder available compounds, a duty Mercedes alternates between its drivers on Fridays from race to race.
However, given the fact all the drivers are learning the track for the first time, Rosberg thinks that and his stoppage have left him on the back foot.
"I have some work to do, Lewis was pretty quick today," Rosberg said. "I had the disadvantage of having to run the medium tyre today whereas Lewis was always on softer tyres and can always get on to speed quicker.
"That hindered me a little bit, but one weekend it's that way and one week it's the other way, but on a new track it's a little more paralysing. But anyways, tomorrow I have plenty of time to work on the one-lap speed and I'll get there."
Having avoided the majority of Mercedes' engine gremlins this season Rosberg is unfazed by the prospect of a change, which will fall well within his pool of available power units for the rest of the season.
"Not ideal, but I still got a good run on high fuel so I still learned what I needed to learn. So I didn't' lose much. The engine is very old so even if there is a problem with it, it's not an issue, it had a lot of miles on it so no problems there. I'm sure they'll sort it out."