Lando Norris (McLaren/5th): “I paid the price for it”

A minor mistake at the wrong time cost 2025 World Champion Lando Norris (McLaren) valuable performance in qualifying at Baku. The Briton will start the Azerbaijan Grand Prix in fifth place, meaning he’ll be on the third row of the grid.

A brief glimpse of what might have been: Norris’s team-mate Oscar Piastri finished third in qualifying, but was also eight-tenths of a second behind George Russell on pole. For Norris, the gap was a full 1.1 seconds. What happened there? On his final attempt at a fast lap, his wheels locked up at Turn 3 and he drove into the run-off area. Consequently, the lap was ruined. Fifth place was the best he could manage.

Norris: Paying the price for a mistake

Norris said after qualifying: “I’ve felt comfortable in the car all weekend. It was only on my final lap that I made a mistake and paid the price for it.”

The 2025 World Champion has to admit that he finds himself in a completely different position in the World Championship battle this year. Norris is fourth in the World Championship standings, but trails Kimi Antonelli by 106 points. So he can effectively write off his title defence. However, he is only five points behind Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari/3rd).

Everything for pole position

Norris: “I’ve reached a point in the championship where I either have to take pole position or at least give it my all. And of course, today I paid the price for pushing too hard. But it is what it is.”

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McLaren, like virtually all the teams, brought a major upgrade package to Baku. However, this repeatedly caused problems in practice. The Papaya drivers often had to pit, losing a lot of practice time as a result.

Norris on the new parts: “The lads say everything’s working as expected. But when you see that we’re eight-tenths of a second off the pace, it’s painful. At the same time, though, we’re losing time on the straights. That’s another area we simply have to look at more closely. Because when it comes to anything to do with straights, we’re simply a step behind Mercedes.” And that’s despite also having a Mercedes engine at the rear. In Baku, this is particularly painful because of the straight stretching over two kilometres.

Norris: “So it was tough. Especially my car. For some reason, my car is even worse than the one on the other side. That just makes life very difficult for me.” He’s referring to the other side of the garage – that is, Oscar Piastri.