Lando Norris emphasised McLaren’s performance issues at the Formula 1 Azerbaijan Grand Prix with a cheeky jibe at Red Bull’s Yuki Tsunoda.
Norris finished seventh in Baku, a result that did close the gap in the Drivers’ Championship amid team-mate Oscar Piastri’s DNF on Lap 1.
But the comparatively small amount of points scored still leaves Piastri with the breathing space of 25 points to Norris, who suffered yet another pit stop gremlin.
A sluggish wheel gun on his front right caused a delay in his tyre stop, which Norris believed made little difference to his eventual race result.
The Brit was unhappy with the pace of his MCL39, as he struggled to find a way past Tsunoda’s Red Bull, which was involved in a battle for fifth place with Liam Lawson’s Racing Bulls.
Speaking to Viaplay, Norris appeared to cite his unsuccessful attempts to pass the Japanese’s RB21 as an example of how he did not have the pace to exploit Piastri’s retirement more.
![Lando Norris [back] struggled to match the pace of Yuki Tsunoda [middle] in the Azerbaijan GP](https://www.motorsportweek.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Lando-Norris-Yuki-Tsunoda-F1-1024x576.webp)
“The pace was maybe not amazing, because I struggled to even keep up with Tsunoda,” he said.
“If that’s the case, we are clearly not that quick.”
However, Norris was likely referencing the improvement of the inconsistent RB21, in which Tsunoda has struggled, that has been made by the Milton Keynes-based squad in recent races.
Max Verstappen cruised into the distance to win the race, following on from a similarly dominant performance in Monza two weeks before.
And Tsunoda also made good on the strength of the package to score his best finish with the team to date, having frantically battled his former team-mate Lawson until the finish.
The result and performance will put McLaren on notice, with Verstappen creeping back into – albeit still on the periphery – of the championship race with seven races still to go.
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