Stuck With McLaren’s Small Steps, Lando Norris Finds Himself in a Helpless Place After Persistent Struggle in Baku

The Azerbaijan Grand Prix didn’t live up to all of its promises. There were no close-lap battles except for George Russell and Max Verstappen, and it wasn’t as chaotic as we’ve seen in the past. However, there were some teams to be on the lookout for, specifically Team McLaren. The papaya army was hoping for some significant improvements at the Baku track after having a dismal start. We all observed how the season has progressed for the Woking-based team since Zak Brown made it obvious that the MCL 60 has been missing some of the significant developmental phases. And as a result of constant anguish and aggravation with the team’s slow step toward progress, Lando Norris is in a helpless predicament.

The 23-year-old British driver was aiming to compete in the midfield fight. But he had to grind it out at the parc ferme since he only earned two points in the main race and came in 17th place in the Sprint race. Along with all of his other challenges, the British driver wished for the race to be over in 20 laps, on the day when nothing went in the favor of McLaren, according to Norris.

With only 14 points and a P5 constructor’s championship, the papaya army’s future doesn’t seem promising in the near future. When claiming that the MCL 60 didn’t perform well on the Baku circuit, Norris, who placed ninth by a mere margin of points, sounded helpless. Talking to motorsports.com, the Briton said, “I’m really satisfied. But with the straight speed we have it’s almost impossible to overtake. It’s also not good that the DRS zone is so short compared to last year. But yeah, so there’s not much to say.” [Translated via Google]

He added, “I tried my best to keep up with the cars in front of me, but it made me push the tires a lot because we are not on the same level as them. If you look at our lap times, the steps we took probably didn’t help us much here.”

READ MORE: Despite McLaren’s Step Up, Lando Norris Blames Stubborn Alpine’s Strategy for an “Unlucky” Race in Baku

Due to their poor performance, McLaren has come under constant criticism from fans. Yet, Norris has consistently demonstrated his strong faith in the team’s future prospects and strategies. However, it appears that the slow progress has frustrated Norris, and warns a “similar performance” for the coming weekend is possible.

Lando Norris sends a heartbreaking statement to F1 fans ahead of the Miami Grand Prix

At Albert Park, the papaya army’s performance slightly improved, thanks to the double Red Flagged race, which moved the team from the bottom up to P5. Even while the squad’s car has recently displayed some signs of development, there is still a lack of pace.

The British driver, however, cautions McLaren supporters to be prepared for performance along such lines. This is because Baku’s track, which is identical to Miami’s, favors vehicles with low drag coefficients like Red Bull and Aston Martin. Mclaren, on the other hand, is now suffering overbearing levels of drag, which in Norris’ opinion, is not good for the forthcoming weekend.

Norris had a chat with Sky Sports, which the F1 Briefings quoted. He remarked, “Straight-line speed we’re still pretty shocking, which makes overtaking on a day like today near on impossible. And it’s not like we have a lot more downforce in the corners to catch up and then slow on the straights. We’re just same in the corners and slow on the straights.”

He added, “So it’s a tough battle on days like today and probably Miami will be something similar, but it’s a new track, some of the updates we can look into and understand and maybe try to improve on a little bit. And the updates should work a little bit better there than it did here even.”

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Do you believe that the British driver’s persistent frustration with the Papaya army will cause him to rethink his ways?