Lando Norris says he's a 'long way off' as he assesses McLaren’s low-key performance in Baku practice

Lando Norris has explained McLaren’s struggles during the opening practice sessions in Baku after the team found themselves lingering further down the timesheets than expected.

After a double podium finish for the Briton and Oscar Piastri at the Italian Grand Prix, the duo were forced to slot in behind other frontrunners during FP1 and FP2 in Baku as they ended up several tenths off the pace.

FP2: Leclerc leads Perez and Hamilton during second practice in Azerbaijan

While Piastri improved from P6 to P5 across the day, Norris dropped from P4 to P17 after a tricky afternoon and an incident with the Alpine of Pierre Gasly, although he admitted that his lap times were not representative of the car’s performance.

With six different teams occupying the top 10 at the end of FP2, the Woking outfit will face tough competition to claim pole position during qualifying, especially as mere thousandths of a second separated the top drivers.

BAKU, AZERBAIJAN - SEPTEMBER 13: Lando Norris of Great Britain driving the (4) McLaren MCL38 Mercedes on track during practice ahead of the F1 Grand Prix of Azerbaijan at Baku City Circuit on September 13, 2024. (Photo by Clive Mason/Getty Images) — Norris is currently 62 points behind leader Verstappen in the standings

“We’re quite a long way off,” Norris said. “I’m having to push way too much to try and get a lap time out of it. I think where Oscar was is kind of more where we are, so I think if we nail it we’re just about there. But I’m sure they’re not even close to nailing it yet.

“I think we have quite a lot to find honestly comparing to Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull – they’re all very similar – and then there’s a good three or four tenths gap back to us. A lot of work for us to do.”

McLaren have claimed the highest points tally of any team over the last five races and have appeared to be the most consistent on the grid, but Norris insisted that their successes have not been as straightforward as they may look.

Norris: ‘We’re quite a long way off, I’m having to push way too much’

He explained that “there’s been plenty of circuits where we’ve not been quick, people just love to believe that we’re the best everywhere but we’re not”.

“We’ve been doing a very good job so far and I think other teams haven’t,” the 24-year-old added. “I think with these kinds of track conditions Mercedes are going to be very quick. It’s just very slidey out there, you know, whereas I think we perform very well at the higher grip circuits naturally.

“Finding it difficult but we’ll work hard tonight. The car’s still not bad, I’m sure we can still get a lap time out of it but we’re not as clearly ahead as we have been at other races.”

Piastri finds himself 44 points behind his teammate with eight rounds remaining

His underwhelming practice lap times followed the news that McLaren will do what is needed to help Norris close down the gap to championship leader Max Verstappen, who has not won a race since the Spanish Grand Prix.

Piastri has agreed to assist Norris on a race-by-race basis, but expressed a significantly more optimistic outlook on the team’s performance in Baku after he finished the day 0.499s off Charles Leclerc’s FP2 lap.

“I think it’s been a decent day,” the Australian said. “It’s a bit hard to know at the moment with the track evolving so much still. Our pace seems in the ballpark I would say. Ferrari look pretty strong, Red Bull look quick and Mercedes as well.

“At the moment anyone in the top four teams looks good. Our long runs seemed quite competitive, which is good, but some people are putting down some big laps and if you hook it up it really makes a big difference so that’s going to be the name of the game tomorrow.”