Lando Norris makes humbling admission as McLaren driver's Friday is cut short by an incident in F1 Azerbaijan GP FP2

Lando Norris highlighted the issue McLaren faced heading into the second free practice session at Baku during the Azerbaijan PG weekend. The team had managed to top the timing charts at the end of the first practice session; however, the picture changed drastically within the span of a few hours.

McLaren has dominated the grid so far this season. However, their performance witnessed a steep decline during FP2 at Baku. Lando Norris, who was the fastest during the first session, touched the wall around the circuit, resulting in suspension damage. This ended his day early, which affected his preparation for the upcoming race.

"A costly one, especially, I mean, I was feeling good until then, so yeah, I’d rather have this and push and find the limits than not push at all," Norris told Sky Sports F1 about his damage.

"So yeah, annoying, but I would have liked to get some high fuel laps in, especially on these tyres, the softer compound compared to last year, but it is what it is and I’d love to make up for it."

Speaking from his teammate's perspective as well, Norris further mentioned that the session was rather "scrappy," which also hindered his learning of the track.

"So, I mean, certainly I’m behind on the learnings now, but a scrappy session, I guess, from both, from my side and I think from Oscar’s side," he added. "He seemed to be struggling a little bit with the car as well, so we’ll see what we can make up for tomorrow."

Both McLarens kept losing pace on the track's final sector during the second practice session. While the drivers did manage to set competitive times in S1 and S2, the car seemingly lacked top speed as they missed out on setting a fast third sector.

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Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri tipped to set new record for McLaren at Baku

As mentioned, McLaren has been extremely dominant this season. With consistent performance from both drivers, they have managed to create a massive gap to Ferrari in P2.

In fact, McLaren can clinch the 2025 Constructors' Championship at Baku in the race on Sunday. They only need to outscore Ferrari by nine points to clinch the title, meaning a 1 - 2 finish from Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri would increase their chances of winning greatly.

If this happens, the team will set a new F1 record of winning the Constructors' Championship with seven more races to go in the season.