1 week ago
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McLaren’s Lando Norris says helium is “still hopeful” of a bully effect successful Sunday’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix contempt starting the contention successful 16th place.
The Briton volition commencement 10 places down rubric rival Max Verstappen’s Red Bull aft coming crossed yellowish flags astatine the incorrect infinitesimal successful qualifying, which meant helium did not advancement beyond the archetypal session.
Norris, who qualified 17th but gained a spot erstwhile Alpine’s Pierre Gasly was disqualified for a method infringement, is trying to adjacent a 62-point spread to Verstappen implicit the remaining 8 races of the season.
"It is what it is but determination is simply a agelong contention ahead,” Norris said. “We person got immoderate bully tyres successful the bank, truthful yeah, effort and beryllium hopeful and spot what we tin do.”
But Norris acknowledged that making advancement would beryllium connected strategy choices successful the race, due to the fact that overtaking is hard connected the Baku thoroughfare way contempt the two-kilometre pit straight.
He said the information that the slower cars successful beforehand of him had chosen to tally debased downforce to boost their velocity connected the consecutive would marque it adjacent much difficult.
Norris said helium was “disappointed and frustrated” with the effect of qualifying but insisted that determination was “nothing I could change”.
“Everything is going to person to beryllium done with strategy due to the fact that you can’t overtake,” Norris said. “There are a plentifulness of cars astatine the backmost who person taken the helping disconnected and anticipation for the best.
“That makes it intolerable for a batch of cars to overtake them.
“The car is speedy and we anticipation that volition travel into our hands and astatine immoderate constituent I tin get cleanable air.
“But connected a thoroughfare circuit everything gets backed up and you benignant of get forced into a presumption and you can’t bash a batch astatine times.
“We volition anticipation for the champion but I don’t expect thing overmuch astatine each unless strategy comes into play.”
The different McLaren operator Oscar Piastri, who has been asked earlier the play to assistance Norris’ rubric bid, qualified second, down the rod presumption Ferrari of Charles Leclerc.
Ferrari's Carlos Sainz is 3rd up of Red Bull’s Sergio Perez, Mercedes’ George Russell, Verstappen and Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton.
Leclerc’s rod was his 4th successful a enactment astatine this way but helium has yet to person immoderate into a win.
The Ferrari driver, who won the Italian Grand Prix 2 weeks ago, said: “Looking backmost connected the 3 years I person done pole, 1 we had the car to beryllium pole, but the 2021 and 2023 were peculiarly bully laps and we were retired of position, truthful I did not expect to triumph those years.
“In 2022, the motor blew up erstwhile starring - unfortunate. And time I anticipation the gait we person seen each play volition inactive beryllium there, but it is simply a wholly antithetic happening due to the fact that with precocious fuel, tyre degradation volition beryllium a large happening truthful we request to beryllium connected apical of this and if we are hopefully we tin bring the triumph home.”
Norris’ champion anticipation for a bully effect is for a chaotic, incident-packed contention of the benignant that person been regularly seen successful the past.
Sainz said: “The biggest situation of Baku usually is erstwhile determination are reddish flags due to the fact that that breaks the bushed of the race. I retrieve 1 twelvemonth determination was 2 oregon 3 reddish flags connected the aforesaid race, and past you person to hold portion they wide the track, and evidently that is the biggest thing.
“Then the information cars. Here it's precise hard to support somesthesia successful the tyres, truthful whenever there's a safety-car restart, it's precise casual to beforehand lock, precise casual to spell wide into the archetypal 3 corners.
“So yeah, each these aspects marque Baku an unpredictable race, due to the fact that arsenic soon arsenic there's 1 curve ball, similar a information car oregon a reddish flag, it really generates adjacent much chaos after, arsenic a snowball effect.”
Verstappen, for his part, is not optimistic of coming done to situation for victory, saying the car’s behaviour did not springiness him assurance to onslaught successful qualifying.
"The mode the car feels present is not good,” Verstappen said.
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