McLaren is "very far from the mark" in Baku, regrets Lando Norris

Lando Norris was not at all satisfied with his first day of testing in Baku. The Briton admits he had difficulty controlling the MCL38 on the streets of the Azeri capital... a bad omen for the future?

Published on 13/09/2024 à 18:09

Comment on this article! ¹

McLaren is "very far from the mark" in Baku, regrets Lando Norris

Should we be worried about the home side? McLaren in Baku? During the last meetings, the Papayes had accustomed us to start their weekend with a bang and to maintain an excellent level of performance until the arrival of the Grand Prix. Unfortunately, this Friday, the two MCL38s did not seem at ease between the walls of the Azeri capital. Oscar piastri posted the 5th time in Free Practice 2, half a second behind, while Lando Norris – hampered in his fast lap by Pierre Gasly – ranked 17th but with a time that was therefore not very representative.

However, the Briton does not seem very optimistic at the end of this first day of testing and draws a bad conclusion. "We are very far from the mark. I have to push too much to try to get a good lap time, Lando Norris told F1 TV, unable to help but notice the delay . I think where Oscar is is where we are. Frankly, we still have a lot to find out about Mercedes, Ferrari et Red Bull. They are all very close and behind, there is a good three or even four tenths gap with us. So we have a lot of work to do.

Norris recalls that McLaren "are not the best everywhere"

On a rather slippery and dusty track, the double Grand Prix winner had trouble adapting to the Baku circuit, with a capricious MCL38, which nevertheless seems to shine on all types of circuits for several months. Nevertheless, Lando Norris is more measured, stating that there was "A lot of circuits where [McLaren] wasn't fast" since the start of the championship.

“People like to believe that we are the best at everything, but we are not, emphasizes the Englishman. We have done a very good job so far, a better job than the other teams, but we always knew that the Ferraris were very quick here. With track conditions like these, Mercedes will be very quick. However, the car is not bad. I am sure we can still extract some lap time, but we are not as clearly ahead as we have been in the races.

ALSO READ > Team instructions: Piastri will play as a team but will not forget himself