Lando Norris admitted that McLaren's speed during Thursday's practice sessions at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix was "pretty pants" and made it clear he does not expect to fight for pole position. 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 seem to suit the current McLaren package.

The team arrived in Baku with a substantial upgrade bundle that includes completely new side‑pods, a redesigned engine cover, a revised diffuser and fresh floor edges. Despite the volume of new parts, the upgrades have not translated into an immediate performance boost. "We are miles off," Norris said. "We are up there relative to where we want to be, but we are 1.5 seconds off the pace.

Pretty pants." The British driver, who sits 106 points behind championship leader Kimi Antonelli with nine rounds remaining, expressed disappointment at the size of the deficit. When pressed about whether McLaren could close the gap to Mercedes, Norris replied, "I hope so. I have no idea.

We'll see what 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 outright speed on the demanding Baku layout. Norris aborted a lap in the second practice session that, had it been completed, would likely have brought him within a second of Russell, who topped both Thursday practice sessions. The aborted run demonstrates how close the driver believes he could be if the car's performance were unlocked.

McLaren's chief technical officer, Rob Marshall, cautioned that it is still "early days" for the eight new components on 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," he explained. Marshall added that the aerodynamic maps appear promising: "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 noon, both events being broadcast live on Sky Sports F1. Because Baku is a street circuit, track position remains crucial even though overtaking is possible.

Mercedes driver George Russell, who also topped practice, noted that his team still has "plenty of work" to do. "It's been a positive first day here in Baku. The car felt competitive over a single lap, and our race pace looks closely matched with McLaren and Red Bull," he said, adding that the gaps should tighten further after qualifying. Championship leader Kimi Antonelli suffered a hydraulic leak in the first practice session and was forced to change his engine before the second session, costing him roughly an hour of track time.

Despite the setback, Antonelli still managed to finish second in the second practice, just half a second behind his 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 reflected.

He described the weekend as a "good recovery" and expressed optimism about the upcoming qualifying. Red Bull's Max Verstappen remained Mercedes' closest challenger in the practice sessions, though he was still eight‑tenths of a second off the leading pace.

Verstappen's team has introduced its own upgrades for Baku, but the performance delta indicates there is still work to be done. Isack Hadjar returned to the Red Bull car for the first time since July after missing three races due to a wrist injury sustained during the summer break.

Confirmed as Verstappen's teammate for the 2027 season, Hadjar also lost valuable laps because of an engine issue in the first practice. Nevertheless, he reported feeling "pretty happy" with the limited running he got. "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," Hadjar said. He noted that the new aerodynamic package retained the car's characteristic feel but felt "better than when I left it in Budapest." Ferrari's Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton both featured in the top five of each practice session.

Hamilton, a seven‑time world champion, lamented that Ferrari appears to be missing grip on the tyres 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. He added that the tyres are "really, really difficult to get to work," with grip fluctuating dramatically from lap to lap.

"When you do an extra lap, all of a sudden they switch up and you have tonnes more grip, so that's a really fine line and really difficult to get working. But we try our best and some teams do it better than others. We have to look into that. Then our straight line speed is not as good as Mercedes.

Whether we can close that deficit tomorrow, we will try to work on tonight. Otherwise, a fun day." Ferrari team principal Frederic Vasseur echoed the sentiment, saying the sessions were "difficult to read" and that every performance parameter – fuel load, engine mapping, tyre behaviour – had a larger impact than on a typical circuit. He admitted the drivers were not entirely satisfied with the car's balance and that the team has a lot of work to do overnight to find a solution for qualifying.

The weekend schedule continues with an F2 sprint on Friday morning, followed by the final practice session, the F2 feature race, and then qualifying for the Grand Prix. Saturday will host the F2 feature race, the Azerbaijan GP build‑up, the main race at noon, and post‑race analysis.

All sessions are available live on Sky Sports Main Event, and fans can stream the coverage via the Sky Sports app or NOW without a long‑term contract. The 2026 Formula 1 season presses on, and Baku promises to be a decisive stop for drivers and teams battling for championship points.