“A small part” Lando Norris played in his McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri’s victory in Baku – The Brit is surprised to have beaten Max Verstappen
Lando Norris drove from 15th on the grid to fourth place in the Formula 1 race in Baku, while his McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri celebrated his second Grand Prix victory. The Briton was surprised that he was able to beat Max Verstappen and was pleased that he had played at least “a small part” in Piastri’s victory
Piastri did not react immediately to Sergio Perez’s stop and ran the risk of losing time with an undercut. “I didn’t go extra slow, I was stuck behind Alexander [Albon] and had to conserve my tires,” said Norris, who slowed Perez down a little. “So I was able to help him stay in front. That was for the team and that’s what we have to do. It didn’t affect my race, but it helped Oscar. To do that and finish fourth was great.”
Norris had only finished 17th in qualifying because a yellow flag wiped out a good lap by the Briton. As a result, he had to make up a lot of ground in the race, which he managed to do. Norris was allowed to start from 15th place in Azerbaijan thanks to some problems with the competition: Pierre Gasly was disqualified, Lewis Hamilton started from the pit lane
Alternative strategy and good pace
The McLaren driver also opted for an alternative strategy and started the race on hard tires. He got off to a good start and quickly moved into the top 10 until he got stuck behind Albon, who was also on hard tires. Gasly also held off several drivers on medium tires who pitted early, including Verstappen and George Russell.
Then Fernando Alonso pitted and Norris had some time off before coming in for service on lap 38. Russell overtook Verstappen and finished on the podium, while Norris had to catch the Dutchman in the Red Bull. He overtook Verstappen and secured fourth place in a thrilling race.
“We couldn’t have expected more today,” said an overjoyed Norris after the race. The Briton also secured the bonus point with the fastest race lap and reduced his deficit on Verstappen from 62 to 59 points. McLaren took the lead in the constructors’ championship ahead of Red Bull.
The perfect car
“We would have been happy with eighth place because we are one of the top four teams and I would have been the last car. We had a good start and a good strategy. I would have liked to get past Alexander earlier. He made life difficult for us. After his stop, my pace on the track was the best. I pulled out a good lead on the hard tires and fully exploited the potential.”
According to Norris, the car was “flying”, so he was all the more annoyed about the unfortunate situation in qualifying. Nevertheless, he is pleased to have beaten Verstappen, even if he was “a bit surprised”. “I didn’t expect to beat him from 15th place,” says Norris. “I was realistically 20 to 22 seconds behind him. I didn’t expect to beat him. “
