Despite finishing fourth in Baku, Lando Norris remains frustrated, attributing his underperformance to the FIA’s actions during qualifying, which he believes cost him a better result in the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
It was a positive result for Lando Norris in the championship today at Baku, with the McLaren F1 driver managing to reduce his deficit to Max Verstappen after the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
With seven Grand Prix weekends remaining, Norris now has 59 points to make up instead of 62. The gap is narrowing but not enough in his view, and the Briton was rather dissatisfied at the finish despite securing fourth place after starting near the back of the grid.
Norris still feels aggrieved by the yellow flag that was waved unnecessarily yesterday, which prevented him from completing a lap to exit Q1.
“Fourth is good, but I could have done much better this weekend, as the team’s victory with Oscar [Piastri] showed. It’s another missed opportunity to take more points off Max.”
“So no, it wasn’t fair. You don’t need to be a scientist to understand. I know I got fourth place today and that’s not bad, but it could have been better. I think Oscar showed what was possible today. It was unjust.”
“Yesterday in qualifying, there was no yellow flag throughout the entire lap, and they put out a yellow just as I was passing. Did I go off track just before? Yes. Would I have still easily made it into the top 15? Yes.”
“I know many people thought it would ruin my lap. I was still in the top 15 even with my slight off-track excursion. I only lost a few tenths and could have easily gone into Q2.”
“People can say what they want. I find many things amusing, but it was out of my control and was something unfair that cost me a lot of points in the championship today and ruined my weekend.”
Regarding the race, at one point, Norris had to slow down Sergio Pérez to protect Oscar Piastri and his strategy ahead.
“It was tough. At that moment, I was stuck behind Alex Albon, so there wasn’t much I could do. I didn’t slow down; I just conserved my tyres a bit more.”
“That allowed Oscar to stay ahead and potentially secure a victory. I’m happy to have helped him and played a small part in that. I don’t think it cost me anything; it’s always impossible to know.”
“I was stuck behind Alex, so I don’t think it changed the outcome. But it changed the result for Oscar, so it was my job to help him.”
Norris felt he was able to utilise his strength in tyre management once he had clean air before overtaking Max Verstappen in the closing laps.
“The biggest question was: how would the hard tyres hold up? In dirty air, the tyres can degrade more quickly. Knowing when to attack, overtake, or save and then push in clean air—that’s the driver’s job to manage these things.”
“One of my strengths is race pace and how I manage the tyres. Coming to Monza, here, and Singapore, we knew our main competitors would be Ferrari. Between Carlos and Charles, they put us under pressure. Ferrari will be strong next weekend.”
“But our car works well everywhere, at medium or high speeds. We have more difficulties at low speed but, clearly, we had the fastest car today. I’m pleased; I didn’t expect it to be this good.”
This is the first time McLaren has led the Constructors’ Championship in ten years, since 2014.
“Of course, I had a bit of luck with the two cars that went off the track, which helped me. The pace was good; at the end of the first stint on the hard tyres, as soon as Alex got out of my way, the speed was incredible. It was a good result for us as a team. I’m even happier for Oscar. For McLaren to be at the top of the Constructors’ standings for the first time in many years… playing a role in that is fantastic.”
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Norris Frustrated Despite Fourth Place Finish in Baku Norris Frustrated Despite Fourth Place Finish in Baku
