Why Azerbaijan GP proved McLaren’s F1 2025 car is difficult to handle

McLaren has so far produced one of the most dominant campaigns in Formula 1 history with the Woking outfit set to retain its constructors’ title.

The papaya squad simply needs to score 13 points next time out in Singapore to equal Red Bull from 2023 in having won the championship with the most grands prix left in the season. 

McLaren has been so dominant that it has scored well over double the amount of points of second-placed Mercedes, while also winning 12 of 17 grands prix – including seven 1-2s. 

A lot of this has been thanks to the MCL39, a car many say is one of the best ever in F1 with it also confusing various teams as to how McLaren improved so much for 2025.

But, despite the results, McLaren’s drivers are refusing to subscribe to the notion that the MCL39 is that far ahead – particularly Lando Norris, second in the standings to Oscar Piastri.

Norris struggled at last weekend’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix, as he only qualified seventh having made the decision to set a Q3 lap before others, who subsequently improved due to track evolution. 

That decision came after a hectic qualifying that featured six red flags plus threats of rain, so Norris wanted to avoid the risk of something preventing him from setting a lap late on. Nevertheless, even when things were smoother in the Sunday race, the Briton still struggled, failing to make progress as he finished P7.

He spent the latter parts stuck behind Yuki Tsunoda, whose Red Bull team-mate Max Verstappen dominated from pole for the second, consecutive grand prix after Monza. 

“We were not that quick honestly,” said Norris. “I don’t think we were bad, but I could barely keep up with Tsunoda and there were parts of the track where the Red Bull was just unbelievably fast.

“We clearly struggled a little bit this weekend. The car was difficult to drive – on a bit of a knife’s edge at times – easy to either be just too slow, sometimes kind of feel like you’re there and then lock up and then something goes wrong. The car didn’t fill us with a lot of confidence this weekend and I think that showed from probably both of our performances.”

He is referring to team-mate Piastri, who also struggled throughout the Azerbaijan round. He sat out much of FP1 due to a power unit issue, finished 12th in FP2 after clipping the Turn 15 wall, while also enduring slides at Turns 1 and 4 in final practice.

His woes continued into qualifying, as the championship leader only managed ninth after crashing in Q3 having misjudged the grip at Turn 3. Piastri didn’t even see the end of lap one in the race either, striking the Turn 4 barrier to end a 34-race point-scoring streak.

Lando Norris, McLaren, Oscar Piastri, McLaren

Photo by: Rudy Carezzevoli / Getty Images

But even if the McLaren drivers performed better, Norris still doesn’t think they’d have challenged Verstappen. He reckons this highlighted the weaknesses of the MCL39 and how it isn’t as adaptable as others might think.

“I don’t think we had the pace of Red Bull,” Norris added. “That was very, very clear. I think just the lower downforce tracks, we still seem to struggle. We still don’t have the confidence we need. It can be quick, we’re just not able to repeat it as often as we need to and as often as the Red Bull, for example.

“We’ve had an amazing season, don’t get me wrong, but we clearly have things that are not good enough and we have to keep working on them.”

The evidence suggests that the nine-time grand prix winner has a point. Monza, for example, is a low downforce circuit where Verstappen dominated, likewise Montreal, which had Mercedes man George Russsell win from pole. As for McLaren in Canada, it finished off the podium and Norris’ race ended when he collided with his team-mate. 

So, the reaction to McLaren not pretty much winning every race, something fans became accustomed to when Verstappen had the quickest car, irked Norris. “People need to stop being so surprised that they’re quick,” he said of Red Bull. “Max was winning races already at the beginning of the year.”

The 25-year-old therefore expects it to continue across the final seven rounds of the 2025 season. “Vegas, I think we know we’re going to struggle once again,” Norris told Sky Sports F1.

Lando Norris, McLaren

Photo by: Pauline Ballet / LAT Images via Getty Images

This is of course a man who has repeatedly stressed that the MCL39 isn’t as easy to drive as it may seem. McLaren’s 2025 challenger likes to be passive going into corners to prioritise the exit, while Norris said in March that he likes to attack the entry. 

He had to change his approach because of it, and Norris reckons Baku was just another example of his car being difficult to contain. 

“The mistakes Oscar’s made and I’ve made just prove it’s not an easy car to drive still,” he added to Sky. “It can be unbelievably fast at times, but places like here and other tracks, it can still bite you if you just go one step wrong.

“And that’s what we’re trying to work on. It’s difficult to prove, but yeah, it can bite. And it bit me this weekend and it bit Oscar.”

His thoughts are echoed by team boss Andrea Stella, who agreed that McLaren didn’t have the car to win in Baku.

“We were hoping to have a car that was in condition to overtake, but the reality today is that the car wasn’t fast enough to stay close to the car ahead, out of the last corner, to then be able to overtake down the straight,” said Stella.

“This means that Lando spent the entire race in traffic, despite feeling that the car had more to offer.

“Overall, I think I’ve said that yesterday, that these kind of circuits don’t seem to suit our car very well in terms of its strengths, but at the same time, definitely there was more available in the car than yesterday in qualifying, and today in the race we did not exploit.”

Additional reporting by Cihangir Perperik and Oleg Karpov