F1 Academy champ highlights Lando Norris' "rookie" mistake after McLaren's Baku debacle

F1 Academy champion Abbi Pulling has shone a light on Lando Norris' "rookie" error that might've cost him a better result at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. The whole race weekend was a mess for McLaren, with signs of struggles emerging in the opening practice on Friday.

However, it was in qualifying where the Woking outfit's weak side was exposed. In the chaotic session, Oscar Piastri succumbed to the pressure in Q3, bringing out the sixth red flag of the session at Baku, while Lando Norris couldn't get a good final flying lap in the closing stages of the session and started P7 on the grid.

In the race, Piastri had a false start, fell back to P20 before Turn 1, and crashed his MCL39 halfway through the opening lap. On lap 4, when Max Verstappen led the grid to a restart, Norris, who was in P8, was unusually slow to react to the race getting underway, with a sizeable gap emerging to Isack Hadjar in front of him. Charles Leclerc exploited the McLaren driver's blunder and claimed P8.

Former F1 Academy driver for Alpine, Abbi Pulling, spoke about this lapse of attentiveness from Lando Norris on the BBC's F1: Chequered Flag podcast, saying [19:10 onwards]:

"It looked like we put a rookie in the car. It was a really slow reaction. So this is probably the chance where he missed moving forward, and actually, Charles Leclerc ended up going around the outside of him in Turn 1. He left a massive gap, didn't maximize that from his perspective. I've not got a explanation as to why he's done that yet, but I'm sure we'll hear soon."

BBC F1 correspondent Andrew Benson shared that Norris spoke about the moment post-race, and how he was changing his brake bias just before the restart to ensure that his brakes weren't cold, which led to his slow reaction. Unfortunately, it cost him a crucial couple of seconds and track position to Charles Leclerc.

However, that moment was barely spoken about after the race, because McLaren's slow 4.1-second pit stop for Lando Norris, which lost him two positions to Leclerc and Lawson just outside the pit exit, stole the spotlight.

McLaren Team Principal Andrea Stella claims slow pit stop didn't cost Lando Norris at Baku

McLaren Team Principal Andrea Stella at the F1 Grand Prix of Azerbaijan - Source: Getty

McLaren Team Principal Andrea Stella claimed that Lando Norris' race at Baku wasn't affected by the team's slow pit stop on lap 38 of 51. He emphasized that the Briton would've still been fighting with Charles Leclerc for track position even if they had a perfect pit stop.

In an interview with Sky Sports after the Azerbaijan GP, Stella said:

"The pit stop itself didn't make any difference because we would have ended up pretty much in the area of Leclerc. For me, the most important takeaway was that the car wasn't fast enough. With a fast enough car, I think we would have been able to overtake and then have some free air, and in free air, actually use the full potential."

Lando Norris also highlighted the point of McLaren not having a quick-enough car at the low-downforce Baku circuit. He cited his troubles and teammate Oscar Piastri's crash to highlight how the MCL39 remains a 'difficult car to drive'.

Norris had a good opportunity to close the gap to championship leader Piastri in the standings after the Aussie's DNF. However, his P7 finish would reward him only six points.

Max Verstappen took a lights-to-flag victory at Baku, earned the extra point for fastest lap, and walked away with 26 points. As a result, he closed the gap to Piastri from 95 to 69 points.

Edited by Yash Kotak