Lando Norris defends McLaren despite key F1 flaw being exposed

Lando Norris has defended McLaren's poor performance in the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, despite a flaw with the dominant MCL39 being exposed.

McLaren's hopes of landing the 2025 F1 constructors' championship with a new record seven races remaining were dashed in Baku after Norris could only finish seventh and championship leader Oscar Piastri crashed out on the first lap, after also crashing in qualifying. 

Instead, Red Bull's Max Verstappen galloped to a grand chelem, his second straight win to reduce Piastri's lead to 69 points, having taken 40 points out of the Australian since the Dutch GP.

McLaren has struggled to compete with Red Bull in the two previous races, in Italy and Azerbaijan, both of which feature low downforce characteristics, with the McLaren also struggling at venues such as Las Vegas in 2024. 

Reflecting on the weekend, Norris felt that the team was still struggling with its low downforce configuration, and had areas of the car "which are not good enough."

"I don't think there were big struggles, I think on ultimate pace, we were still not bad," Norris told media, including RacingNews365. 

"We were quick in FP1, FP2, FP3 and so forth. I think it was a normal qualifying, yes, there were tricky conditions, the little bit of rain, and coming out first on track all added up to making it a worse weekend. 

"If I had started second, I would have finished second. We didn't have the pace of the Red Bull; that was very clear, and just at the lower downforce tracks, we still seem to struggle.

"We still have the confidence we need, and can be quick, we're just not able to repeat it as often as we need and as often as the Red Bull. 

"We've had an amazing season, don't get me wrong, but we clearly have things which are not good enough, and have to keep working on."