McLaren star Lando Norris has launched a blistering critique of the Baku City Circuit, branding it the "worst track" for his underperforming car after a gruelling and fruitless Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
The British driver, who finished a lowly ninth after the Sprint and could only manage the same result in the main Grand Prix, pulled no punches in his post-race analysis. He pinpointed the circuit's unique combination of long straights and tight, twisting sections as the kryptonite to his McLaren MCL60's weaknesses.
Why Baku Exposed McLaren's Fundamental Flaws
Norris explained that the street circuit's specific demands are a perfect storm against his car's characteristics. "It's just the layout. We are slow on the straights, and we are slow in the corners here", he stated bluntly. This one-two punch meant the team had no place to hide, struggling for both straight-line speed and mechanical grip through the slow-speed complex.
The weekend's new Sprint format offered no respite, serving only to compound the team's struggles with limited practice time to find a solution. Teammate Oscar Piastri mirrored Norris's difficulties, failing to escape Q1 in qualifying and finishing outside the points, underlining a systemic issue for the papaya squad.
A Glimmer of Hope on the Horizon?
Despite the bleak assessment in Azerbaijan, Norris's comments contained a note of optimism for the races to come. He was quick to clarify that Baku is an outlier, suggesting that more conventional circuits will play to the car's strengths. "It's not that we are bad at everything, it's just this track is our biggest weakness", he affirmed, indicating that the team's development path remains the correct one, just not for tracks like Baku.
This brutal honesty from Norris sets a clear benchmark for McLaren. Their performance highlights the ultra-specific nature of modern Formula 1 car design, where a machine can be competitive one week and languish at the back the next, purely based on the asphalt laid out in front of them.
