Lando Norris makes Oscar Piastri observation after ‘scrappy’ session

Lando Norris’ Free Practice 2 session came to a premature end at the Baku City Circuit when he drifted into the wall at Turn 4 and knocked his suspension out of alignment.

Norris had to limp back to the pits — but he did find some small consolation in the fact that his McLaren teammate and title rival had his own issues with both the wall and with a power unit issue in FP1.

Lando Norris laments ‘scrappy’ FP2 in Baku

The Formula 1 circus has once again returned to the tight confines of Baku City Circuit, and the ever-present concrete barriers have already caused plenty of drama for drivers up and down the field.

And that includes the McLaren Racing camp.

While the duo of Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris remain at the helm of the drivers’ championship standings, and while the team is expected to lock up the constructors’ title in the next two races, its Friday practice session was admittedly quite “scrappy,” according to Norris.

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In Free Practice 1, Oscar Piastri had a power unit issue that sidelined him for much of the session, thereby delaying his ability to find his footing. Then, come Free Practice 2, Piastri was reprimanded for a yellow-flag infringement and also collided with a concrete barrier.

Norris, too, hit a barrier, and he sustained far more damage than his teammate.

About halfway through FP2, Norris narrowly escaped a collision with the wall at Turn 2 only to end up kissing the barriers two corners later. The collision, largely confined to the rear of the car, knocked his McLaren out of alignment and forced him to crab-walk back to the pits for service.

Speaking to media after the session, Norris admitted that the mistake was “a costly one — especially here. It was feeling good until then.”

While he did grant that “I’d rather have this and push and find the limits than not push at all,” he branded the collision “annoying.”

“I would have liked to get some high fuel laps in, especially on these tyres, a softer compound compared to last year,” he said. “But it is what it is, and I’ll have to make up for it.”

Pressed to share a little more about his concerns, Norris pinpointed the unique characteristics of the Baku City Circuit and its interplay with the soft tyre compound being used by Pirelli this weekend.

“The track’s very different to last year; it’s quite a bit quicker, and it’s a softer compound which we don’t use that often. We use it in Monaco, Imola — I think that’s it,” he said.

“I mean certainly I’m behind on the learnings now, but a scrappy session, I guess, from my side.”

There was some consolation, though, in the fact that he wasn’t the only member of his team to have a tough session.

“I think from Oscar’s side, he seemed to be struggling a little bit with the car as well,” Norris admitted. “So we’ll see what we can make up for tomorrow.”

The British driver pinpointed Ferrari — the team that topped the timing charts in FP2 — as looking particularly strong at Baku, while Red Bull “are never good on Friday, but then they go to sleep and they wake up and then they’re just quick again.”

Norris and Piastri finished FP1 at the top of the timing charts despite Piastri’s PU issue and a lengthy red flag, but both dropped off in FP2. Norris completed the second practice session with the 10th-quickest time, while his teammate finished 12th.

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