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. 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 street circuit do not suit the current McLaren package.
The British driver explained that despite the extensive upgrades McLaren introduced for the Baku weekend – new side‑pods, a revised engine cover, a fresh diffuser and a re‑shaped floor edge – the car has not instantly translated those changes into measurable 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 that he sits 106 points behind championship leader Kimi Antonelli with nine rounds remaining in the season.
When pressed about whether McLaren could narrow the gap to Mercedes, Norris admitted uncertainty but expressed a hopeful outlook. "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 added.
Norris even aborted a lap in the second practice session that, had it been completed, would likely have placed him within a second of Russell’s best time. Russell, who topped both Thursday practice sessions, later commented that while overtaking is possible in Baku, track position remains crucial on the narrow street layout.
McLaren’s technical chief, Rob Marshall, cautioned that the team is still in the early stages of understanding 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," Marshall said.
He added that the aerodynamic maps appear promising, but the team still needs to extract the full performance from the package. Qualifying is scheduled for Friday at 13:00, with the Grand Prix itself set for Saturday at noon, both events broadcast live on Sky Sports F1.
The weekend also features a range of support races, including F2 sprint and feature events, as well as a packed schedule of analysis and commentary shows. Mercedes, meanwhile, enjoyed a relatively smoother weekend despite setbacks. Kimi Antonelli suffered a hydraulic leak in the first practice session and was forced to change his power unit before the second session, losing an hour of track time.
Nevertheless, Antonelli managed to finish second in the second practice, just half a second behind his teammate George Russell, who remains 81 points ahead of Antonelli in the standings. Antonelli reflected on the challenges, 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 was the closest challenger to Mercedes during the practice runs, yet he still trailed by over eight tenths of a second at the end of the day, despite Red Bull bringing its own upgrade package to Baku. Isack Hadjar returned to the Red Bull car for the first time since July after missing three race weekends with a wrist injury sustained during the summer break.
Hadjar, confirmed as Verstappen’s teammate for the 2027 season, also faced an engine issue in the first practice but remained optimistic. "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," he said. Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton both featured in the top five of the two practice sessions, but Hamilton noted that the Scuderia appears to be 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, adding that the tyres are particularly difficult to get into the optimal temperature window.
"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 hard to interpret and that every performance parameter – fuel load, engine mapping, tyre behaviour – had a larger impact than on a conventional circuit. "They 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’s schedule is packed: Friday begins with an F2 sprint, followed by the third practice session for the Azerbaijan GP, then the F2 feature race and the qualifying build‑up before the main qualifying session at 13:00.
Saturday continues with the F2 feature race, the Grand Prix build‑up, the race itself at midday, and post‑race analysis throughout the afternoon. Overall, the Baku weekend promises high drama. While McLaren grapples with a substantial performance deficit despite a major upgrade package, Mercedes and Red Bull look to consolidate their positions at the front of the grid. Ferrari aims to resolve tyre and straight‑line speed issues, and the returning Hadjar hopes to regain his rhythm after injury.
As the teams head into qualifying, the street circuit’s unforgiving nature will test the limits of every car’s aerodynamic and mechanical setup, setting the stage for a potentially unpredictable race on Saturday.