A glitch in Norris’s McLaren stripped away straight‑line pace during Baku qualifying, relegating the world champion to fifth place.
After out‑qualifying Oscar Piastri nine times to one, Norris fell three‑tenths short in Q3 – his biggest gap this season – and a lock‑up only worsened the MCL40’s woes.
“Something’s dragging my car more than Oscar’s,” Norris told reporters, noting he has to push harder to compensate for the straight‑line shortfall.
His top speed lagged by 3.4 km/h compared with Piastri, but the team already has clues about the source.
“We’ve logged a power deficit on Lando’s side and are probing it,” team principal Andrea Stella said, linking it to odd fuel‑injection behaviour that the adaptive systems should fix for tomorrow.
“Occasionally the power unit spits out a little less juice, but it’s an isolated quirk, not a full‑scale failure,” he added.
Lando Norris – McLaren
McLaren’s straight‑line deficit pales beside its supplier Mercedes, whose cars were 8.1 km/h quicker than Piastri and 11.5 km/h ahead of Norris in Baku.
“It’s a mix of both. Mercedes runs an ultra‑efficient chassis, and we must close that gap if we want to stay competitive on any power‑track this season,” Norris explained. For my money, McLaren must overhaul its aero package.
Stella largely agreed, stressing McLaren simply needs to reach Mercedes’ benchmark across the board.
“On a circuit like this we consistently lost straight‑line time to Mercedes in practice and qualifying,” the Italian observed.
“Even with identical engines, their chassis, gear ratios and overall package extract more speed. Look at Monza – they dominate every long straight,” he noted.
“From an engineering standpoint we can’t claim a power‑unit deficit; we simply don’t have evidence of any,” he said.
“Their package is just more effective, likely with lower aerodynamic drag. That’s an area we must improve, and we see it as an opportunity,” he added.
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– The Team