McLaren's Baku weekend marred by Piastri crash and Norris seventh

Lando Norris finished seventh at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix in Baku on Sunday after a weekend of mixed fortune for McLaren that saw team mate Oscar Piastri crash out on the opening lap, trimming his championship lead but leaving questions about execution and strategy. Piastri, the points leader, failed to recover after a scrambled start that left him at the back and a subsequent contact with the Turn 5 barrier that ended his race. Norris scored six points, reducing a 31 point deficit to 25 with seven races remaining.

Both McLaren drivers encountered problems early. Norris made a mistake in Q3 at Turn 15 that compromised his qualifying lap and left him seventh on the grid at the tight Baku City Circuit, where overtaking is often difficult. Piastri also struggled in qualifying and began the race further down the order than expected. At the start he stalled and, while attempting a recovery, misjudged a braking point and hit the barrier, forcing a retirement.

Norris ran a long first stint in an attempt to undercut rivals but was hampered by a slow pit stop on lap 37 that dropped him behind Charles Leclerc and into a drag-reduction-system train that stifled his progress in the closing...