After Baku, Lando Norris remained in firm contention in the title fight. He had won in Australia, Monaco, Austria, Great Britain and Hungary, and he paired those results with consistent podiums that kept him within reach of the lead. Two DNFs interrupted the run and cost ground, yet the overall trend stayed positive. The intra-team contest with Oscar Piastri tightened through the summer, while Max Verstappen’s response in Baku compressed the margin at the front. Under that pressure, McLaren executed clean weekends and Norris continued to convert opportunities, keeping the title fight open as the calendar moved into its decisive phase.
First out, first to pay: Norris owns the quali gamble while keeping the title fight alive
Norris framed the weekend as a calculation rather than a narrative swing, stressing he is “doing the best I can” and acknowledging that anything short of a win feels like an “opportunity loss.” The decisive moment, in his view, came with Saturday’s choice to go out first in qualifying; the track improved for those behind, his lap didn’t, and McLaren bore the cost. He accepted the risk-reward call and its consequences, noting the alternative could have been worse, and shifted the focus to how timing, surface evolution and out-lap preparation shaped the outcome far more than intent. In championship terms, it was a contained setback that still yielded points.
“I mean, I’m doing the best I can in every race. If you look at that, every race to finish second or worse this year was an opportunity loss. So I don’t really care how people look at it.”
“I mean, of course I wanted to do better today, I needed to do better yesterday, but we went out first. This was just our decision, and we paid the price for that. So yeah, other than that, I also could have ended up in the wall and gone long and something worse happened.”
When passing is pricey, Norris banks what’s there and keeps the title fight in range
Norris assessed Sunday in Baku as a solid, if constrained, performance. He felt “close to maximising” what was available, even if the optics suggested otherwise. The car offered a workable baseline, yet progress stalled in traffic and, as he put it, it was “too difficult to overtake,” which pushed strategy and tyre life ahead of outright pace. His tone stayed pragmatic as there are still points to chase against a formidable rival, the focus stays on clean execution, and the aim is to “keep [his] head up” while converting small gains whenever the race opens a door. In practical terms, he prioritised track position, avoided low-percentage moves, and leaned on undercut or overcut windows. With several rounds remaining, the plan is to keep stacking small, safe gains until they add up.
“So I feel like I was close to maximising today. It didn’t maybe look like it from the outside, but we struggled with the pace. We weren’t too optimistic about our pace today.”
“Clearly we struggled a little bit. I don’t think the pace is bad, it’s just too difficult to overtake. I’m doing the best I can, and I know I still got a lot of points to make up against a pretty good driver, incredible driver. So I just need to keep my head up.”
