Norris insists run to P7 in Azerbaijan ‘not a missed opportunity’ after title rival Piastri’s first-lap crash

Lando Norris has given his reaction to a challenging Grand Prix for McLaren in Azerbaijan, arguing that he “couldn’t have done anything more” than his seventh-place finish following team mate Oscar Piastri’s first-lap accident.

Norris and Piastri started Sunday’s race towards the tail-end of the top 10 positions after a tricky Qualifying session at the Baku City Circuit, giving both drivers plenty of work to do when the lights went out.

However, the afternoon was turned on its head almost immediately when Piastri botched his start and then crashed into the Turn 5 barriers, giving Norris a chance to eat into the Australian’s championship lead.

As it transpired, Norris finished where he started in seventh, via another slow pit stop – after his drama at the Italian Grand Prix last time out – and having struggled to overtake a train of cars ahead in the final laps.

“It was just too difficult to follow and overtake, so it didn’t really matter how quick the car was,” said Norris afterwards. “We couldn’t really do anything with strategy, so I don’t think we could have done anything more today.”

As for whether it represented a missed opportunity, with Piastri’s lead coming down from 31 points to 25, Norris added: “I did everything I can. The opportunities were there. I maximise every single weekend like I can.

“It’s not a missed opportunity. Every race is an opportunity. Today we just weren’t good enough and made too many mistakes yesterday.”

With Max Verstappen making it back-to-back wins for Red Bull and now sitting a reduced 69 points adrift, Norris also gave his take on the apparent step forward McLaren’s rivals have made.

“I think people have caught [us],” he told Sky Sports F1. “Red Bull brought upgrades [at Monza], so they’re clearly doing well, their race pace is strong, but they’ve still won plenty of races this year.

“It’s not a surprise. They’ve improved in some areas, they’re a winning team for the last however many years. We knew that they could be a threat, we know that some of these tracks are not going to be our best, but it also wasn’t our cleanest weekend.

“If I could go back to yesterday and change some things I certainly would, but we’re doing the best we can every weekend. It’s hard to be perfect in the world of F1. I’m trying to work on things.

“Could I have done some things better? Yeah. But it’s not without trying or doing everything I can. I’ll just continue doing what I’m doing, always trying to do better.”