Currently second in the drivers’ standings, 62 points behind Max Verstappen and with eight races left in the season, Lando Norris is about to start the Azerbaijan Grand Prix from 17th position on the grid. This situation could potentially jeopardize his championship title ambitions against Verstappen.
Qualifying session on Saturday took an unexpected turn for Norris, who seemed to be on track to reach Q2. But that was without counting on an incident involving Esteban Ocon’s Alpine, driving slowly on the track and briefly causing the deployment of the yellow flag. As a result, Norris was forced to slow down, before eventually giving up and returning to the pits as his lap was compromised. Commenting on the incident, the frustrated British driver stated, “The lap was more than enough but there was a yellow flag, so I had to give up.”
Questioned about his chances of moving up in the pack, particularly overtaking on the long straight, Norris appeared pessimistic: “Honestly, I don’t think it’s as simple as that,” he remarked. “It’s almost impossible to stay in the slipstream here, and overtaking is worse than everyone thinks. I hope I’m wrong, of course, and that I’ll have plenty of opportunities, but I don’t think so.” He goes on to explain the few challenges that the Baku city circuit would pose, “Many cars at the back have low downforce and will be practically impossible to overtake. So, honestly, I don’t expect much starting 17th on the grid, but we will work on a good strategy and do our best.”
McLaren questions the FIA’s decision.
On his side, Andrea Stella, the director of the McLaren team, did not hide his incomprehension at the FIA’s decision to apply the yellow flag. Speaking with Sky Sports F1 after the qualifying session, he assured that the team would do its best to get into the points and minimize the impact of this incident during the race. However, he regretted this very unfortunate qualifying for Lando and added that McLaren would discuss with the FIA to understand why the yellow flag was deployed at that time, which cost us dearly. Stella believes that the FIA did not apply the regulations correctly.
The premature elimination of Norris from the qualifying session in Baku occurred at a very critical moment for him and the McLaren team. After demonstrating a series of solid performances that had allowed the English driver to gain a few points against Verstappen and nurture hopes of challenging the latter for the world title, this setback could prove to be a hard blow to these aspirations. The strategy recently adopted by the team, consisting of giving full support to Norris’ title bid by prioritizing him over his teammate Oscar Piastri, is facing its first major test, especially as the latter qualified in second position.
Baku the unpredictable
Meanwhile, Max Verstappen will start from the 6th position, a definite advantage compared to Norris but the Red Bull does not seem to be the most performing machine at the moment. It’s not all won for Verstappen either, especially in Baku, and although he doesn’t have a task as complicated as Norris. McLaren will have to arm itself with a bold strategy to try to make him climb up the rankings and limit the damage.
Thus, when the lights go out at the start of the race, all eyes will be on Lando Norris as he tries to navigate the demanding Baku circuit.
It remains to be seen whether he will be able to overcome the failure in qualifying and maintain his championship dreams, but one thing is for sure, the Azerbaijan Grand Prix always promises unpredictable and chaotic races.
