Lando Norris acknowledged the issue McLaren faced going into the second free practice session at Baku during the Azerbaijan PG weekend. The side had managed to top the timing charts at the end of the first practice session, although the scenario changed drastically within the span of a few hours.
McLaren has dominated the season so far. However, their performance saw a steep decline during FP2 at Baku. Lando Norris, who was the fastest in the first session, touched the wall around the circuit, resulting in suspension damage. This ended his day early, which affected his preparation for the upcoming race.
"A costly one, especially, I mean, I was feeling good until then, so yeah, I’d rather have this and push and find the limits than not push at all," Norris told Sky Sports F1 about his damage.
"So yeah, annoying, but I would have liked to get some high fuel laps in, especially on these tyres, the softer compound compared to last year, but it is what it is and I’d love to make up for it."
Speaking from his teammate's perspective as well, Norris added that the session was scrappy, which also restricted his learning of the track.
"So, I mean, certainly I’m behind on the learnings now, but a scrappy session, I guess, from both, from my side and I think from Oscar’s side," he added. "He seemed to be struggling a little bit with the car as well, so we’ll see what we can make up for tomorrow."
Both McLarens continued to lose pace on the track's final sector during the second practice session. While the racers did manage to set competitive times in S1 and S2, the car seemingly lacked top speed as they missed out on setting a fast third sector.