Lando Norris believes he “paid the price” for an aggressive approach to F1 qualifying at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
The reigning F1 champion took a ‘pole or die trying’ approach to qualifying in Baku, which didn’t end as Norris had hoped.
Lando Norris takes responsibility for F1 qualifying disappointment
Norris had been critical of McLaren’s lack of pack on Friday, describing the deficit as a “knife to the heart”.
Despite this, both he and teammate Oscar Piastri were in the mix in qualifying, with the pair fastest at one stage.
However, when Mercedes driver George Russell stretched his legs at the end of Q3, McLaren fell down the order, with Charles Leclerc also unlocking pace for Ferrari with a tow along the main straight.
This left Norris in fifth place, two positions behind his Australian counterpart, and over a second off the pole-winning pace.
Lando Norris vs Oscar Piastri: McLaren head-to-head stats for F1 2026 season
F1 2026: Head-to-head qualifying statistics between teammates
F1 2026: Head-to-head race statistics between teammates
“I think relative to others [we found pace], but I always expect that with a bit lower fuel,” said Norris. “But we’re still eight tenths off of pole.
“To be honest, most of our time loss to them, a lot of it’s in the straights, so there’s not a lot I can do about that.
“I’ve been comfortable in the car the whole weekend. Just our last lap, I made a mistake and paid the price.
“But I’m at a point in the championship, where I kind of have to go for pole or die trying, and of course, I paid the price for pushing too much today, but it is what it is.”
On his final lap, Norris locked up and went straight on at Turn 3, causing yellow flags to fly, which caught out Carlos Sainz and resulted in the Williams driver receiving a five-place grid penalty.
“The guys say everything’s working as expected, but when you see eight tenths to the top, it’s painful,” Norris added.
“But at the same time, like I said, our time losses are in the straights, and that’s another area we just need to look at because we just look a step worse to Mercedes in everything straight line related.
“So it’s been tough, and especially with my car, for some reason, my car is even worse compared to the other side, so it’s just making my life very painful.”
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Originally published by Planet F1 —
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