Norris crash ‘costly’ as Hamilton leads Ferrari 1-2

Lando Norris said a crash in Friday practice at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix was “costly” after Lewis Hamilton led Charles Leclerc to a Ferrari one-two.

Norris lost control at Turn Four at the start of his qualifying simulation run in Baku, breaking his left rear suspension.

The Briton, 31 points behind team-mate Oscar Piastri in the championship with eight races remaining, was unable to run again after limping back to the pits, and ended up 10th in the classification.

It meant Norris missed his high-fuel run late in the session, when drivers get a feel for their cars in race trim.

“A costly one,” Norris said. “Especially here. It was feeling good until then. I’d rather have this and push and find the limits than not push at all. I have to push and find the limit. Annoying.

“I would have liked to get some high fuel laps in especially on these tyres, a softer compound compared to last year.”

Piastri completed a messy session for McLaren, who are poised to clinch the constructors’ title this weekend if they outscore Ferrari by nine points.

Piastri was 12th fastest following his own brush with the wall, in which he did not damage his car.

Leclerc, who has been on pole in Baku for the last four years, said that McLaren’s potential had been hidden by the circumstances of the session.

“I didn’t do a great job today but overall we seem pretty strong so it’s good,” he said.

“But – and there’s a big but – it looks like McLaren are in another world and I think we will all be very surprised tomorrow, because Lando didn’t finish some laps that were very, very impressive.

“So I doubt we will be in the fight with them but compared to the others it seems we are kind of in a good place.”

His opinion was backed up by Piastri’s pace on the longer, race-simulation runs later in the session.

Piastri missed some running in the first session when his car suffered an engine problem on his first lap out of the pits. A 20-minute red-flag period to repair a damaged kerb limited the impact of that on the Australian.

“A bit tricky,” Piastri said. “A bit up and down. The pace is there, just not the easiest to get the most out of it. We tried a few things in P2. We will look back and see what we can change for tomorrow. It is going to be different with tyre choices and stuff like that.”

Piastri was referencing the decision by tyre supplier Pirelli to take its three softest compounds to this weekend for only the third time this year. At both previous races when this has been the case, the pace difference between the soft and medium tyres has been marginal.

Norris said: “The track’s very different to last year and it’s a softer compound we don’t use that often – Monaco, Imola. I am behind on the learnings.

“A scrappy session from my side and Oscar’s side. He seemed to be struggling a little bit with the car as well, we will see what we can make up tomorrow.

“Ferrari were easily the quickest here last year even though Oscar won. Ferrari will be quick. Red Bull are going to be quick. They are never good on Friday. They go to sleep and then they wake up and they are quick again.”

Hamilton benefited from a slipstream from Leclerc at the start of his lap to beat his team-mate by 0.074 seconds.

The Briton said he felt he had made a breakthrough in his attempts to get on top of the Ferrari’s braking characteristics, which have been bothering him all season.

“This is a circuit where you have to have mega confidence on the brakes and I have some problems on the brakes,” Hamilton said.

“And then we made some changes going into P2 and the brakes were finally working perfect.

“So really happy to see the progress and it just goes to show the direction we have been going as a team.

“Really grateful for everyone’s patience and everyone pushing so hard because we are really starting to see the progress coming through.”

Baku is a track where Leclerc’s excellence on street circuits and in qualifying is at its most pronounced, but he said he did not expect to be able to score another pole.

“I don’t think there is a battle for the win for now,” he said. “But never say never. In 2021, and many qualifyings here, it wasn’t possible but in the end we kind of made it so in the end I will keep my hopes high. But it looks unlikely.”

Mercedes drivers George Russell and Kimi Antonelli were third and fourth fastest, ahead of Haas’ Oliver Bearman, two licence points short of a one-race ban, and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen.

Verstappen, winner of the last race in Italy, was 0.609secs off the pace but guardedly optimistic about the weekend ahead.

The four-time champion said: “What was positive for us was the car felt quite good so it definitely seems like we found a stable balance, and that is what we need.

“This track is very particular in its layout. Everything needs to come together to try to produce a good lap.

“The long run felt OK. It is always going to be slippery around here. Tough on the tyres with the softer compounds but it seemed not too bad.

“It seems like Ferrari are really on it. I do expect a few teams to be quite close, and then it all comes down to driving a perfect lap or getting your tyres in, which is always difficult around here. And then with such a long straight if you get lucky with a little bit of a tow you gain 0.2secs easily and that can also make quite a big difference.”

Russell was another to have a scare, with a wild oversteer moment out of Turn 12, the exit of the section around Baku’s medieval castle. The Mercedes hit the barrier but the car was undamaged.

Racing Bulls’ Liam Lawson, the second Haas of Esteban Ocon, Williams’ Alex Albon and Norris completed the top 10.