Lando Norris was blunt after Thursday’s practice sessions at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, describing McLaren’s speed as "pretty pants" and making it clear he does not expect to fight for pole position in Baku. In the second practice session the British driver was a full 1.5 seconds off the pace set by George Russell, a gap that highlighted the difficulty McLaren’s car has navigating the circuit’s tight, 90‑degree corners. The team arrived in Baku with a substantial upgrade package that includes brand‑new sidepods, a revised engine cover, a fresh diffuser and a modified floor edge. Despite the extensive work, the new components have not translated into an immediate performance boost.
"We’re miles off," Norris admitted. "We’re in the right place relative to where we want to be, but we’re still 1.5 seconds away from the leading time.
Pretty pants," he added, noting that he is currently 106 points behind championship leader Kimi Antonelli with nine races remaining. When asked whether McLaren could close the gap to Mercedes, Norris was cautious. "I hope so, I have no idea.
We’ll see what we can do tonight. The car doesn’t feel terrible, so it’s a bit of a knife in the heart to see how far off we are," he said. "I just care about the pace. We’re not very fast at the moment.
I drive whatever car I get, I just want it to be quick, and right now it isn’t." During the second practice, Norris aborted a flying lap that, according to his team, would probably have placed him within a second of Russell’s best time. Russell, who topped both Thursday practice sessions, praised his own car’s single‑lap speed and suggested the race pace of Mercedes was closely matched with that of McLaren and Red Bull. He also hinted that the gaps could tighten further in qualifying. McLaren’s chief technical officer, Rob Marshall, reminded the media that it is still early days for the eight new aerodynamic pieces on the car.
"We have a lot of new bits – a lot of learning. You put the package on and you need to learn how to dial it in, and I don’t think we’re there yet," Marshall explained. He added that the car appears to be behaving as expected, with the aerodynamic maps looking "pretty happy," and that the next step is to translate that into on‑track performance.
Qualifying is scheduled for Friday at 13:00, with the Grand Prix itself taking place on Saturday at noon, both events broadcast live on Sky Sports F1. The Baku circuit, while offering overtaking opportunities, still rewards good track position because it is a narrow street layout. Mercedes suffered its own setbacks.
Kimi Antonelli endured a hydraulic leak in the first practice session and then had to change his power unit before the second session, losing an hour of track time. Despite those interruptions, Antonelli still managed to finish second in the second practice, only half a second behind his teammate George Russell. "We tried to do the maximum with what we had.
Losing a lot of laps in FP1 and missing half of FP2 is never ideal, especially on a street circuit," Antonelli said. "Overall it was a good recovery. I feel pretty good in the car, a few things to work on, but I’m looking forward to tomorrow." Red Bull’s Max Verstappen remained the closest challenger to Mercedes in the practice sessions, but still trailed by roughly eight‑tenths of a second at the end of the day, even after his team introduced upgrades for the Baku race.
Meanwhile, Isack Hadjar returned to the Red Bull garage for the first time since July after missing three rounds with a wrist injury. Hadjar, confirmed as Verstappen’s teammate for the 2027 season, also faced an engine issue in the first practice but expressed optimism. "It feels good.
I had a good feeling. Not many laps, unfortunately, but this will come. I’m not too worried about the pace," he said. "The new package feels nicer than when I left it in Budapest." Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton both featured in the top five of each practice session, yet Hamilton lamented that the team’s performance on the tyres and on the straights was lacking.
"I felt generally good in the car. The track is awesome to drive.
In FP1 I felt very strong, but in FP2 the others took another step," Hamilton explained, noting that Ferrari’s tyre window was difficult to hit. "You do an out lap and a prep lap and they still aren’t in the window, they don’t give you grip. When you finally do an extra lap they suddenly give you tonnes more grip – it’s a fine line and very hard to get right.
Some teams manage it better than others." He also pointed out that Ferrari’s straight‑line speed fell short of Mercedes’. "Whether we can close that deficit tomorrow, we’ll try to work on it tonight. Otherwise, it will be a fun day," Hamilton added.
Ferrari team principal Frederic Vasseur echoed the sentiment, saying the sessions were hard to interpret and that fuel and engine parameters had a larger impact than on a typical circuit. "The drivers weren’t very happy with the balance, so we have a lot to do tonight to find a good solution for tomorrow," he said. The weekend schedule includes an F2 sprint on Friday morning, a third practice session, the F2 feature race, and the main qualifying session for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. Saturday features the F2 feature race, the Grand Prix itself, and post‑race analysis.
All events will be streamed live on Sky Sports Main Event and can be accessed via NOW without a long‑term contract. In summary, McLaren’s ambitious upgrade package has yet to deliver the expected performance gains, leaving Norris and his engineers working hard to close a substantial 1.5‑second deficit to the leading Mercedes. Meanwhile, Mercedes, Red Bull, and Ferrari are each grappling with their own technical challenges as they prepare for a crucial qualifying session that could reshape the grid for the Saturday race in Baku.