Lando Norris says ending forward of Max Verstappen within the Azerbaijan Grand Prix was “spectacular” for his hopes of chasing down the world championship chief.
After a disastrous early exit from qualifying on Saturday, Norris produced a superb comeback from fifteenth on the grid to complete fourth for McLaren in Baku, passing Pink Bull’s Verstappen within the closing levels regardless of having began 9 locations behind the Dutchman.
The end result noticed Norris scale back Verstappen’s Drivers’ Championship result in 59 factors with seven rounds remaining, the primary of which follows instantly in Singapore.
“I just need points,” Norris instructed Sky Sports activities F1. “Of course, to finish ahead of Max is spectacular, from where we started and for our (title) hopes.
“Yesterday continues to be on my thoughts as a result of it was simply irritating, and what may have been if that did not occur. Anyway, a very good day.”
Not solely did Norris make sudden floor on Verstappen, however his team-mate Oscar Piastri’s victory ensured McLaren took the lead within the Constructors’ Championship.
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Lando Norris makes a fantastic begin to the Azerbaijan Grand Prix and is as much as thirteenth as Charles Leclerc retains his lead
It is the primary time since 2014 that McLaren have led the standings, whereas Pink Bull had not been dislodged from the highest since June 2022.
Norris performed his half in Piastri securing the win, slowing down Pink Bull’s Sergio Perez to assist his team-mate retain monitor place because the Mexican tried an undercut.
“A good result for us as a team, Oscar winning I’m even happier for,” Norris stated. “For us to be on prime of the constructors, it is the primary time in lots of, a few years so to play a component in that’s clearly superb.
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Lando Norris holds Sergio Perez as much as assist teammate Oscar Piastri pit and are available out in entrance of the Pink Bull driver.
“It allowed Oscar to stay ahead and potentially get the win today. I’m happy I helped him out and played a small part in that. For us as a team, that’s what we are here to do.
“To return out with a primary and a fourth was excellent.”
Verstappen: We did not lose too many factors on a nasty weekend
After a dismal exhibiting in Monza two weeks in the past, Pink Bull seemed to have discovered some solutions throughout Friday follow in Baku earlier than setup modifications going into Saturday appeared to set them backwards.
Verstappen was out-qualified by Perez for the primary time in 34 races on Saturday, and was surprisingly as soon as extra the slower of the Pink Bulls on Sunday as he struggled with braking.
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Max Verstappen says Pink Bull know they’ll do significantly better after one other tough weekend ending behind title rival Lando Norris and responds to experiences of a digital security automobile infringement investigation.
“It was quite a difficult race,” Verstappen instructed Sky Sports activities F1. “After qualifying I don’t think the final change was the right one. We paid the price for that.
“It was so simple as that as a result of should you have a look at Checo (Perez) he had a significantly better race. It appeared like he was extra comfy.
“From our side, we tried something else and it didn’t work out. You win and lose as a team.
“In fact, I am not proud of the efficiency. Generally you make some remaining modifications earlier than qualifying and it really works, sadly this time it did not.”
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Race highlights from the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
Verstappen, who has now gone seven races with out a win, stated after ending sixth in Monza that it was “unrealistic” for him and Pink Bull to carry onto their respective championship leads if there wasn’t an upturn within the staff’s efficiency.
Requested whether or not his perspective on that had modified after the weekend in Baku, he replied: “Even in quite a bad weekend for me we didn’t lose too many points.
“I suppose that is the optimistic and I additionally know we will do significantly better. We are going to attempt to do this subsequent time.”
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