Home · Sports · Sep 24 archive
Norris Says McLaren 'Miles Off' Pace in Baku Practice
Confirmed
In Short: Lando Norris of McLaren said his team was far behind the pace after the first day of practice at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. "We'll see what work we can do tonight but it's a little knife in the heart when you see how far off you are," Norris told the BBC.
Lando Norris of McLaren said his team was far behind the pace after the first day of practice at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. "We'll see what work we can do tonight but it's a little knife in the heart when you see how far off you are," Norris told the BBC.
Norris, who has finished on the podium in three of the past four grands prix, was sixth fastest, 1.484 seconds off the pace set by Mercedes driver George Russell. McLaren had hoped for a step forward with a significant upgrade package to their car, but the new parts have not instantly given them more performance.
The reigning world champion was wary about McLaren’s potential at Baku coming into the weekend, even with the team bringing a big upgrade package. But after both practice sessions on Thursday, he was sixth-fastest and 1.484s from pacesetter George Russell in the Mercedes.
The Baku City Circuit was not expected to favour McLaren, with its slow-speed corners exposing a long-held weakness in the chassis, whilst the longest straight on the calendar means the draggy nature of the machine is being shown.
Team-mate Oscar Piastri had a difficult day, too, in the sister McLaren, with the Australian eighth behind the Alpine of Pierre Gasly. McLaren chief technical officer Rob Marshall says it's "early days" with the eight new items on the car and everything is working as expected.
Racing Bulls' Arvid Lindblad had his second crash in consecutive race weekends in practice, clipping the wall on the exit of the tight chicane leading into the section around the castle. But Norris was optimistic about the team's prospects, saying, "I felt generally good in the car. The track is awesome to drive. FP1 I felt very strong and I thought we were doing well but in FP2 the others took another step,".
What's confirmed
- Lando Norris of McLaren said his team was far behind the pace after the first day of practice at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. "We'll see what work we can do tonight but it's a little knife in the heart when you see how far off you are," Norris told the BBC.
- Norris, who has finished on the podium in three of the past four grands prix, was sixth fastest, 1.484 seconds off the pace set by Mercedes driver George Russell. McLaren had hoped for a step forward with a significant upgrade package to their car, but the new parts have not instantly given them more performance.
- The reigning world champion was wary about McLaren’s potential at Baku coming into the weekend, even with the team bringing a big upgrade package. But after both practice sessions on Thursday, he was sixth-fastest and 1.484s from pacesetter George Russell in the Mercedes.
- The Baku City Circuit was not expected to favour McLaren, with its slow-speed corners exposing a long-held weakness in the chassis, whilst the longest straight on the calendar means the draggy nature of the machine is being shown.
- Team-mate Oscar Piastri had a difficult day, too, in the sister McLaren, with the Australian eighth behind the Alpine of Pierre Gasly. McLaren chief technical officer Rob Marshall says it's "early days" with the eight new items on the car and everything is working as expected.
- Racing Bulls' Arvid Lindblad had his second crash in consecutive race weekends in practice, clipping the wall on the exit of the tight chicane leading into the section around the castle. But Norris was optimistic about the team's prospects, saying, "I felt generally good in the car. The track is awesome to drive. FP1 I felt very strong and I thought we were doing well but in FP2 the others took another step,".
What's still developing
- McLaren's rivals rejected the idea that they were struggling badly.
- Behind Norris, Alpine's Pierre Gasly was seventh, ahead of the the second McLaren of Oscar Piastri and Red Bull's Isack Hadjar, who is competing again after missing three races because of a broken wrist.
- "We'll see what work we can do tonight but it's a little knife in the heart when you see how far off you are." McLaren are one of several teams to bring a major aerodynamic development to Baku, theirs focusing on revised bodywork shaping around the sidepod air inlets, engine cover, floor and diffuser.
- Lando Norris did abort laps in both sessions that looked set to improve his best times, but said afterwards that he is “miles off”.
- “Running… I mean, we are miles off,” he told F1 TV after FP2.
- “I don’t really care how confident I am in the car; I just care about the pace,” he said.
- Norris’ FP1 session was hindered by an issue with a bargeboard, which required his team to apply a temporary fix so he could complete opening practice.
- "We are miles off. We are up there relative and in the position we expect to be in but we are 1.5 seconds off the pace. Pretty pants," said Norris, who is 106 points behind championship leader Kimi Antonelli with nine rounds to go.
- "It feels good. I had a good feeling. Not many laps unfortunately but this will come. I'm not really worried too much about the pace," he said.
- Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player Friday September 25 5.10am: F2 Sprint* 9.15am: Azerbaijan GP Practice Three (session starts at 9.30am)* 11.10am: F2 Feature Race 1* 12.30pm: Azerbaijan GP Qualifying build-up* 1PM: AZERBAIJAN GP QUALIFYING* 3pm: Ted's Qualifying Notebook Racing on a Saturday!
- Although you can overtake in Baku, track position is still important because it's a street circuit and Russell says "there's still plenty of work" to do for Mercedes.
- "I'm sure those gaps will tighten even further when we get to qualifying tomorrow." Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player Kimi Antonelli suffered a hydraulics leak in first practice, then Mercedes were forced to change his engine ahead of second practice which cost him one hour of running in total.