The scale of Mercedes' problems has been highlighted by a remarkable statistic from Saturday's qualifying session at the Azerbaijan GP.

Though P2 and P3 on the grid for Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas was a pleasing result for the team, the Briton's best lap was over one-second slower than his pole position time at the same circuit last year, RaceFans noted.

That is something rarely heard of in Formula 1 with the pace of development year-on-year usually resulting in significant jumps in performance, as seen at the first three races.

One factor that explains some of the increase is the weather with cooler, windier conditions impacting qualifying in Baku as a result of the race taking place in April as opposed to June.

But what was also interesting is how all three Mercedes-powered teams saw a drop in performance compared to last year.

Williams, who have also been struggling to understand their 2018 car after changing the design philosophy, were 1.3 seconds slower than 10 months ago.

While Force India, who had their two drivers lead the midfield for the first time this season, also saw a drop albeit of only 0.4s.

What that may also suggest is the efforts to clamp down on oil burning to improve engine performance could have had an impact, though speeds on the main straight remain similar to those in 2017.

Another key reason will be the tyres which are much softer than last year as Pirelli brought the Ultrasoft, Supersoft and Soft compounds.

The lower temperatures also mean drivers have struggled to warm the fronts and rears into their optimum performance window at the same time which dramatically impacts lap time and has been the main weakness of Mercedes and Williams.

In contrast, Sebastian Vettel's pole time was almost two-tenths faster than Ferraris best from last season, while Red Bull measured a very small increase in lap time of just 0.032s between the RB13 and RB14. 

Commenting after claiming second on the grid, Hamilton was satisfied with the W09's performance.

“That was close. We did the best job we could. It was very very close,” he said. “I lost a bit in the last sector and Sebastian did a great job.

"I'm really happy with what the team did to get us from where we were yesterday to today.

"We are in the mix. I will try to give Sebastian a hard time tomorrow."

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