McLaren are not the quickest car everywhere, claims Norris after tough Friday in Baku

Having finished down in P17 in the early evening practice on Friday, McLaren driver Lando Norris stated that those who think the British team is the quickest everywhere are wrong.

Following his strong showing at Monza, Oscar Piastri sounded a positive note when assessing McLaren's performance after the opening day at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

Having finished fifth five tenths of a second behind the pace-setting Ferrari of Charles Leclerc, Piastri said that McLaren needs to fine-tune a few things, but the MCL38 has the potential.

"That’s Friday done in Baku. It was a pretty solid day, and the pace seemed good. There’s some polishing and tidying-up to do, but the potential is certainly there, which I’m happy with.

"Hopefully, we can find a little bit more in the car tomorrow and get into a good position in Qualifying. The track is still evolving and getting a lot quicker, so it’s still a little bit difficult to know exactly what our pace is like, but it seems to be going in the right direction.”

After setting two impressive sector times in the opening part of the Baku track, McLaren driver Lando Norris found himself baulked by Alpine's Pierre Gasly on his hot lap and opted not to go again, hence his lowly finishing position.

Commenting on his opening day at Baku, Norris said: “We’re quite a long way off. 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.”

Norris claimed that Baku might be a track where McLaren cannot compete for the win, but it is not a surprise for him as the Woking-based outfit is not the quickest squad everywhere despite many suggesting it.

"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.”

“Leaving aside the usual red flags and yellow flags, which are pretty typical here in Baku, it’s been a smooth and productive day of practice running. We’ve had a good look at the tyres, made progress on our set-up and we’ve acquired valuable information.

"Once again, the top four teams seem to be grouped within a tenth or two, which is going to make for a very interesting weekend. We’ll work hard tonight to maximise our package and see where that leaves us for Qualifying tomorrow and Sunday’s race.”