Despite missing out on a podium, Lando Norris knows he gave his all during the Baku Grand Prix. The Azerbaijan GP didn’t go as expected. Max Verstappen ran a solitary race at the front, while McLaren and Ferrari struggled to challenge for a podium finish.
On the first lap, Oscar Piastri crashed into the barriers, prompting the only Safety Car of the race. Lando Norris, meanwhile, couldn’t make significant progress and eventually finished in seventh place.
During the final stint, after overtaking Charles Leclerc, Norris found himself stuck in a DRS train and couldn’t break free. Yuki Tsunoda, ahead of him, defended well and maintained his position. According to the British driver, Red Bull was considerably faster this weekend and will continue to “make life difficult” for their rivals throughout the season.
Norris remains positive
Despite what others are saying, Lando Norris is content with his performance, knowing he maximized the result. He doesn’t care if people see it as a lost opportunity; he is focused on doing his best, and that’s what matters most.
Statements from Norris
In interviews with accredited media in Baku, including GP-News.net, the 25-year-old admitted feeling slightly disappointed at being unable to escape the DRS train.
“Yes [I’m disappointed], I’d say so. I think today was just a performance influenced by yesterday’s results. Honestly, I also think we weren’t that fast. I don’t think we were terrible. But I could barely keep pace with Tsunoda and the other parts of the track where Red Bull was incredibly quick,” he said. “I didn’t have the opportunity to follow them in certain areas of the track. So we struggled a bit this weekend in this race. The car was sometimes on the edge, making it difficult to drive.”
“It’s easy to be either too slow or sometimes feel like you’re in the fight, then get close and something goes wrong. The car didn’t give us much confidence this weekend, and I think that was visible in both of our performances.”
Regarding Red Bull’s performance, Norris added: “They’re rarely slow, you know. So I think people should stop being so surprised at how fast they are. Max [Verstappen] could have won races at the start of the year. He could have taken the first round. I think he was close to winning the second round in the spring or something like that. They’ve been fast all season.”
“Red Bull did well. They made some changes at Monza that seem to have helped them improve even further. So it’s no surprise. We know they’re an incredibly strong team. Max is one of the best drivers in Formula One, so we don’t expect anything less. They’ll make life difficult for the rest of the season, but we also know from our side that we faced some challenges here,” he explained.
“We’ve made improvements [since Monza], but the tracks where Red Bull has historically dominated are still the same. We couldn’t match them. Today, when I was following Red Bull, it was clear there were areas where they were simply on another level for us. We need to understand why.”
The restart and championship context
During the restart on lap five, Charles Leclerc easily overtook Norris, and the gap to the drivers ahead extended. Was it a reaction issue or something more?
The British driver said: “I struggled with brake temperatures, and if I’d tried to brake too lightly, I could have easily locked up entering the first corner or worse. I don’t think there were major issues beyond that.”
“In terms of pace, we weren’t bad this weekend. We’re still quick in FP1, FP2, FP3, and so on. I think qualifying was normal. I believe the difficult conditions, the water yesterday, and the light rain early on contributed to a tougher weekend. Our finishing position… I think if I had started second, I’d have finished second,” he continued.
Norris also praised Red Bull: “Honestly, I don’t think we’re on Red Bull’s pace. That’s very clear. Low-downforce tracks still give us problems. We don’t yet have the confidence we need. We can’t be fast every time we need to be, like Red Bull. We’ve had a fantastic season, don’t get me wrong. But clearly, we have things that aren’t good enough, and we need to keep working on them.”
Regarding the drivers’ championship, the Baku GP represented a lost opportunity for Norris to get closer to his teammate in points. For the British driver, it doesn’t matter; he’s giving his maximum and isn’t concerned about how others perceive the situation.
“I mean, I’m doing my best in every race. If you think about it, every race I’ve finished second or lower this year has been a lost opportunity. So I really don’t care how people see it.”
He added: “Of course, I wanted to do better today, and I should have done better yesterday. But we went out first; it was simply our decision, and we paid the price. Apart from that, I could have even hit the wall, which would have been worse. I feel like I came close to maximizing today.”
“Maybe it didn’t seem like it from the outside, but we struggled with pace. We weren’t very optimistic about our pace today; it’s clear we had some difficulties. But I don’t think the pace was terrible; it was just too hard to overtake.”
“I’m doing my best. I know I still have a lot of points to make up against a very talented, incredible driver. So I just need to keep my head down and work,” concluded the McLaren driver.
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