Lando Norris gave a trying judgement on his Formula 1 qualifying session in Baku, confessing that at this stage of the season it’s a ‘pole or die trying’ situation.
In Madrid, Norris pulled out a stunning pole position, which put him at the front of the field after putting everything on the line. Unfortunately for the McLaren driver, an ill-timed Virtual Safety Car left Norris on the podium but out of the lead.
Coming into Baku, Norris took the same approach to qualifying. However, the session didn’t pan out in quite the same way.
The reigning champion admitted the McLaren just didn’t have the pace of the other front runners, and a mistake on the final lap compounded the issue.
He told media, including Motorsport Week, “I think relative to others [we found pace], but I always expect that with a bit lower fuel.”
“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.”
Norris admitted the pace difference wasn’t down to comfort, but rather a mistake on his side. As a result, Oscar Piastri starts ahead of his teammate for the Race.
“I’ve been comfortable in the car the whole weekend. Just on our last lap, I made a mistake and paid the price.” He told the media.
Currently fourth in the championship, with nearly 100 points separating him from the championship leader, Kimi Antonelli, Norris admitted the title fight is on the line, and he has to take risks.
“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.”
“The guys say everything’s working as expected, but when you see eight tenths to the top, it’s painful,” Norris added.
The Briton made it clear that Mercedes still have the edge in the straights, which leaves Norris reeling to close the gap.
“But at the same time, as 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 than Mercedes in everything straight-line related.” He said.
“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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