Lando Norris: McLaren’s Baku deficit is a “knife in the heart”

Lando Norris has described McLaren’s lack of performance at Formula 1’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix as “a little knife in the heart”.

Norris took a lowly 14th in the opening practice session on Thursday, 1.6s slower than George Russell’s benchmark – although team-mate Oscar Piastri was just one second down. His deficit was 1.5s as he drove to sixth in FP2, with Red Bull and Ferrari substantially closer to Mercedes – 0.8s and 1.1s adrift respectively – but Norris did abort a faster attempt.

McLaren’s poor pace was compounded by a number of technical issues including peculiar damage to both floors in FP1.

“We’re miles off,” a nervous Norris commented at the end of the day. “I mean, we’re up there, let’s say, relative. We’re in a position we expect to be in, but like 1.5 seconds off the pace, so pretty pants.”

Asked if there was a gap that McLaren might be able to close at all, the Briton said: “I have no idea, so we’ll see what work we can do tonight. The car doesn’t feel that bad. It’s a little knife in the heart when you see how far off you are.”

Regarding his feeling at the wheel of the MCL40, Norris insisted only raw performance actually mattered.

“I don’t really care how confident I am in the car,” he said. “I just care about the pace, and we’re not very fast. So I don’t care, I drive whatever car I get given. I just want it to be quick, and it’s not very quick at the minute, but we’ll see what we can change for tomorrow.”

Baku has historically been one of Norris’ worst circuits, as the 49-time podium finisher has always failed to finish in the top three in Azerbaijan – and manifestly is on the back foot to end the streak this weekend.

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– The Motorsport.com Team

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