Norris left to rue ‘annoying’ FP2 crash in Azerbaijan as he enters weekend ‘behind on learnings’

Lando Norris was left to rue an “annoying” meeting with the wall during Friday’s second practice session at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, costing him valuable track time as he limped back to the pits for repairs.

FP1 pace-setter Norris was on a push lap around the Baku City Circuit when he drifted wide exiting Turn 4 – after a close call at Turn 2 – and thumped the concrete lining the track.

“I’m in the wall – tyre’s gone,” Norris reported over the radio, before crawling around the rest of the lap and eventually parking up outside the McLaren garage.

Speaking to media afterwards, Norris said: “A costly one, especially here. It was feeling good until then. I’d rather have this and push and find the limits, than not find the limits at all. [But it’s] annoying.

“I would have liked to get some high fuel laps in, especially on these tyres – the softer compound compared to last year – but it is what it is, and I’ll have to make up for it.”

He continued: “The track is very different to last year, it’s quite a lot quicker, and it’s a softer [tyre] compound which we don’t use that often. We use it at Monaco, Imola… I think that’s it.

“I’m behind on the learnings now, but a scrappy session from both my side and Oscar [Piastri]’s side. He seemed to be struggling a bit with the car as well, but we’ll see what we can make up for tomorrow.”

As Norris touched on, team mate and championship leader Piastri had his own dramas on Friday thanks to a power unit issue in FP1 and brush with the Turn 15 barriers in FP2.

“A bit tricky, yeah,” he said of his day. “Just a bit up and down. I think the pace is there, it’s just not the easiest to get the most out of it at the moment, so that’s probably just the main thing.

“We tried a few things in FP2, I’m sure we will look back and see what we can change for tomorrow, but I think it’s going to be a bit different with tyre choices and things like that.

“I think there’s still a lot of positives from today, just a few tricky moments.”