Lando Norris admitted that McLaren’s performance during Thursday’s practice sessions at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix was far from competitive, describing it as "pretty pants" and confirming that a pole‑position challenge is out of reach for the team at this stage. In the second practice session, Norris was a full 1.5 seconds slower than the session leader, George Russell, a gap that highlighted how the tight, 90‑degree corners of the Baku street circuit do not suit the current McLaren package. Despite arriving in Baku with a substantial upgrade bundle – new side‑pods, a revised engine cover, an updated diffuser and a freshly designed floor edge – the changes have not translated into immediate speed gains. Norris summed up the situation, saying, "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." The British driver, who trails championship leader Kimi Antonelli by 106 points with nine races remaining, was candid about the disappointment.
When pressed about whether McLaren could close the practice gap to Mercedes, Norris replied, "I hope so. I have no idea. We will see what work we can do tonight. The car doesn't feel that bad, so it's a little knife in the heart when you see how far off you are.
I just care about the pace and we are not very fast. I drive whatever car I get given. I just want it to be quick and it's not very quick at the moment." His comments underline the frustration of having a car that feels manageable yet lacks the outright speed needed to compete with the front‑runners.
Norris even aborted a fast lap in the second practice session that, if completed, would likely have brought him within a second of Russell’s best time. Russell, who topped both practice sessions, highlighted the importance of track position on Baku’s narrow streets, noting that overtaking is possible but still challenging.
He added, "There’s still plenty of work to do for Mercedes," but remained optimistic about narrowing the gaps in qualifying. McLaren’s technical chief, Rob Marshall, offered a more measured perspective, describing the situation as "early days" for the eight new components introduced to the car. "We had a lot of new bits on the car – a lot of learning. You put your package on and you need to learn how to dial it in and I don't think we are there yet," Marshall explained.
He added that the aerodynamic maps appear promising and that the team simply needs to translate those findings into on‑track performance. The weekend schedule continues with qualifying set for Friday at 1 p.m., followed by the race on Saturday at noon, both broadcast live on Sky Sports F1. Although Baku allows for overtaking, the street circuit’s layout makes starting position crucial, especially as the event coincides with Azerbaijan’s Remembrance Day on Sunday.
Mercedes faced its own challenges. Kimi Antonelli suffered a hydraulic leak in the first practice session and was forced to change his power unit before the second session, costing him roughly an hour of track time. Nevertheless, the Italian driver, who leads the championship by 81 points over Russell, managed to finish second in the second practice, just half a second behind his teammate.
Antonelli reflected on the setback, saying, "We tried to do the maximum with what we had. We lost quite a few laps in FP1 and missing half of FP2 is never ideal, especially on a street circuit. Overall, I feel like it was a good recovery.
I feel quite good in the car. A few things to work on but looking forward to tomorrow." Red Bull’s Max Verstappen emerged as Mercedes’ closest rival in the practice sessions, yet he remained over eight‑tenths of a second slower than the leading times, despite Red Bull also bringing upgrades to Baku.
Meanwhile, Isack Hadjar returned to the Red Bull garage for the first time since July after a wrist injury kept him out for three race weekends. Hadjar, confirmed as Verstappen’s teammate for the 2027 season, also dealt with an engine issue in the first practice but expressed satisfaction with the limited running he achieved. "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, adding that the new package feels better than the one he left in Budapest.
Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton both featured in the top five of each practice session, but Hamilton, a seven‑time world champion, 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. FP1 I felt very strong and I thought we were doing well but in FP2 the others took another step," Hamilton explained.
He criticized the difficulty of getting the tyres into their optimal window, noting that a small change in lap count could dramatically increase grip. He also pointed out that Ferrari’s straight‑line speed trails that of Mercedes, and the team must work overnight to improve.
Ferrari team principal Frederic Vasseur echoed the sentiment, describing the sessions as "difficult to read" and emphasizing that every performance parameter – fuel load, engine mapping, tyre behaviour – had a larger impact than on a conventional circuit. "The drivers were not very pleased with the balance so we have a lot to do tonight to find a good solution for tomorrow," Vasseur said. The weekend’s broader schedule includes a full slate of Formula 2 races, with a sprint on Friday morning, a feature race later that day, and the final F2 feature on Saturday morning, all streamed live on Sky Sports Main Event.
The Azerbaijan Grand Prix itself will kick off at noon on Saturday, followed by post‑race analysis and reaction segments throughout the afternoon. In summary, while McLaren’s extensive upgrade program has yet to deliver the expected performance boost, the team remains hopeful that further development work and fine‑tuning will narrow the gap to the front‑running Mercedes and Red Bull cars. Norris’s blunt assessment underscores the challenges ahead, but both the drivers and engineers appear committed to extracting every ounce of speed before qualifying, where a strong start could be the difference between a podium fight and a mid‑field finish on Baku’s demanding street layout.