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 that the team does not expect to fight for pole position in Baku. The British driver was a full 1.5 seconds off the pace set by George Russell in the second practice session, a gap that highlighted the difficulty the McLaren chassis has on the circuit’s tight, 90‑degree corners. McLaren arrived in Baku with a substantial upgrade package that includes brand‑new sidepods, a revised engine cover, an updated diffuser and a freshly shaped floor edge.
Despite the extensive work, the changes have not translated into an immediate performance boost. "We are miles off," Norris said, adding that while the team is in the position it expects to be, the raw time loss is stark. "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 young driver, who sits 106 points behind championship leader Kimi Antonelli with nine races remaining, was asked whether McLaren could close the practice gap to the dominant Mercedes. "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," Norris replied. He stressed that his main concern is outright speed: "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." During second practice Norris aborted a lap that, according to his own assessment, would have brought him within a second of Russell’s best time. Russell, who topped both practice sessions, remains confident that Mercedes can still improve, noting that the street circuit still rewards clean overtaking but that track position remains crucial.
McLaren’s chief technical officer Rob Marshall echoed the sentiment that the new parts are still in a learning phase. "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," he explained.
He added that the aerodynamic maps appear promising, but the team must translate that into on‑track performance: "I think the car is doing what we want it to do. The aero maps seem pretty happy.
It's just a matter of dialling the performance in." Qualifying is scheduled for Friday at 13:00, with the race itself set for Saturday at midday, both broadcast live on Sky Sports F1. The Baku circuit, a street layout, still allows for overtaking, yet starting position is vital because the narrow sections can quickly trap drivers. Mercedes, meanwhile, faced its own challenges. Antonelli suffered a hydraulic leak in the first practice session and then had to replace his power unit before the second session, losing an hour of track time.
Despite this setback, the championship leader managed to finish second in the second practice, only half a second behind teammate Russell. "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," Antonelli said.
He felt the recovery was satisfactory and looked forward to the next day. Red Bull’s Max Verstappen remained the closest rival to Mercedes in the practice runs, though still trailing by about eight-tenths of a second. The Dutch driver’s team introduced its own upgrades for Baku, but the performance gap persisted.
Isack Hadjar returned to the Red Bull garage after missing the previous three races due to a wrist injury sustained during the summer break. Confirmed as Verstappen’s teammate for the 2027 season, Hadjar also experienced an engine issue in the first practice session, limiting his running. Nevertheless, he expressed optimism: "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. The feeling with this new package, we know the characteristics are the same with the car, but it feels nice – better than when I left it in Budapest." Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton both featured in the top five of the two practice sessions, but Hamilton highlighted that the team is still struggling with tyre performance and straight‑line speed. "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, noting the difficulty of getting the tyres into their optimal operating window.
He added that Ferrari’s straight‑line speed lags behind Mercedes and that the team will work overnight to address the deficits. Ferrari team principal Frederic Vasseur concurred, describing the sessions as "difficult to read" and emphasizing that fuel, engine settings and tyre management have a larger impact on a street circuit than on a conventional track. "They 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 schedule also includes F2 support races, with a sprint race on Friday morning, a feature race later that day, and another feature race on Saturday morning, all of which will be streamed live on Sky Sports Main Event. In summary, McLaren’s extensive upgrade package has not yet delivered the expected performance gains, leaving Norris and the team with a substantial gap to the front‑running Mercedes. While the engineers remain hopeful that further setup work will close the deficit, the immediate outlook for a Baku pole position looks bleak. Meanwhile, Mercedes, Red Bull and Ferrari continue to fine‑tune their cars, each hoping to extract the maximum from a circuit that rewards both outright speed and precise tyre management.
The upcoming qualifying session will be the first real test of whether any of the teams can translate their practice learnings into a competitive grid position for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.