Lando Norris

Norris keeps feet on the ground, reveals what McLaren will not do in Baku

11:49, 12 Sep

Updated: 12:03, 12 Sep

bySamson Ero

Lando Norris has weighed in on McLaren’s chances of securing victory at the upcoming Azerbaijan Grand Prix. The 25-year-old touched on the possible threats posed by the Scuderia Ferrari and Red Bull Racing outfits at the Baku street race.

Norris, who spoke to GPblog, detailed how he expects both teams to be good around the Baku race. While referencing the performance of both teams, he also touched on what would be the McLaren team’s approach through the Azerbaijan race.

“If you look back at last year, it was pretty close between many people. The Ferraris, as well, were very strong there. We expect them to be good there. But it's pointless to guess.”

“We go into every weekend with an open mind. We've been dominant, and I think that's always a positive thing at the end of weekends – it’s when we come out when we’ve had a one-two, and sometimes it's a smaller gap, sometimes much bigger.

"But we still go into weekends with the expectation that anyone could be there, whether it is the Ferraris or the Red Bulls, most likely.”

The 2024 edition of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix witnessed both Red Bull, McLaren, and Ferrari slug things out for victory. While Oscar Piastri would eventually clinch the race win, the Australian driver had to largely fend off Charles Leclerc and had his final stint of the race relatively easy following a crash involving Sergio Perez and Carlos Sainz.

Azerbaijan Grand Prix, McLaren, Oscar Piasti, Lando Norris, McLaren

Oscar Piastri on the podium during the 2024 Azerbaijan Grand Prix

Lando Norris not surprised by McLaren’s outing in Monza

Lando Norris also weighed in on the McLaren team outing at the Italian Grand Prix. The British driver stressed how he was not too surprised by the performance deficit his team had compared to Red Bull.

Norris detailed how the Woking-based outfit had figured out that they were behind some of the front-runners from the first session of the weekend. However, he concluded by stressing the team would shift its focus to learning for future occurrences.

“Therefore, we're not too shocked to have lost today and not to have been on pole. We knew already on Friday, FP1, it was not going to be a great weekend in terms of dominance like we've had. You have to look at things from the other side. We've had, you know, 95% have been amazing and we've won by huge gaps.”

“So it just hurts, that’s it’s a little bit the other way for once. But when you look at the flip side, there's still a lot more good races than bad. So we have to take it on the chin, learn from this weekend, and see what we can improve for the other lower-downforce tracks like Vegas.”

The Italian Grand Prix in Monza witnessed the McLaren team trail Max Verstappen for much of the race. Norris, who finished in second place, was over 19 seconds off the pace of the Dutch driver who stormed to victory in record time.