Lando Norris was blunt after Thursday's practice sessions at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, describing McLaren's speed as "pretty pants" and admitting the team is far from challenging for pole. In the second free‑practice session, Norris was a staggering 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 are not flattering the current McLaren package.
The British driver pointed out that despite a substantial upgrade programme – new sidepods, a revised engine cover, an updated diffuser and a re‑shaped floor edge – the car has not translated those parts into immediate performance gains. "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," Norris said, noting he sits 106 points behind championship leader Kimi Antonelli with nine races remaining. When pressed about whether McLaren could close the gap to Mercedes, Norris was cautious but hopeful.
"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," he explained. Norris aborted a lap in the second practice that, according to his team, would likely have brought him within a second of Russell, who topped both practice sessions.
The aborted lap underscores how even a marginal improvement could dramatically shift McLaren's standing on a circuit where fractions of a second matter. McLaren's chief technical officer, Rob Marshall, offered a more measured perspective on the new components. "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 said. He added that the aerodynamic maps appear promising, but the team still needs to extract the full performance from the upgrades.
Qualifying is scheduled for Friday at 13:00 local time, with the race itself set for Saturday at noon, both broadcast live on Sky Sports F1. Although overtaking is possible in Baku, track position remains crucial on this narrow street layout. Mercedes' George Russell, who also posted the fastest times in practice, acknowledged that his team still has 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. I'm sure those gaps will tighten even further when we get to qualifying tomorrow," he said.
Championship leader Kimi Antonelli faced his own challenges, suffering a hydraulic leak in the first practice session and then being forced to change his power unit before the second session, costing him an hour of track time. Despite the setbacks, Antonelli managed to finish second in the second practice, just half a second off 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. "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, who has been the closest challenger to Mercedes in the practice runs, remained eight-tenths off the leading pace despite his team bringing their own upgrades to Baku.
Meanwhile, Isack Hadjar returned to the Red Bull cockpit for the first time since July after a wrist injury sidelined him for three race weekends. Although he lost valuable laps due to an engine issue in the first practice, Hadjar said he was "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," he commented.
He added that the new package feels familiar yet improved compared to his last outing in Budapest. Ferrari's Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton both featured in the top five of each practice session, but Hamilton expressed frustration with the team's performance on the tyres and on the straights. "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 said, noting that the tyres in Baku are notoriously difficult to get into their optimal operating window. "These tyres are really, really difficult to get to work. You do an out lap and a prep lap and they are still not in the window and still don't provide you with the grip. 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." Hamilton also highlighted a straight‑line speed deficit compared with Mercedes, vowing that the team would work overnight to close the gap.
Ferrari team principal Frederic Vasseur echoed the sentiment, saying the sessions were hard to read and that fuel and engine parameters played a larger role than on a typical circuit. "They [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 added. The weekend schedule is packed: Friday will see an F2 sprint, the final practice session, and the qualifying build‑up, followed by the Azerbaijan Grand Prix qualifying at 13:00. Saturday features the F2 feature race, the Grand Prix build‑up, the race itself at midday, and post‑race analysis.
All events will be streamed live on Sky Sports Main Event and can also be accessed via the Sky Sports app or NOW streaming service, offering flexible viewing without a long‑term contract. In summary, McLaren's ambitious upgrade package has yet to deliver the expected performance boost, leaving Norris and the team with a substantial deficit to overcome before qualifying. Mercedes and Red Bull appear to be in a tighter battle for the top spots, while Ferrari grapples with tyre and straight‑line challenges. The Baku street circuit promises a dramatic showdown on Friday, and the outcomes will likely reshape the championship narrative as the season moves toward its climax.