Going into the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, McLaren stood a chance of officially claiming the title of the World Constructors’ Champion. All they needed to do was score nine points more than Ferrari, the team currently second in the standings. It seemed like just a formality given Lando Norris’ and Oscar Piastri’s recent performances. And yet, instead of a weekend to remember, McLaren was faced with one they would love to forget.
Piastri, the championship leader, couldn’t have had a worse weekend if he tried. On Saturday, he made it all the way to Q3, only to crash halfway through the session. Despite most fans expecting him to fight for pole, he ended up qualifying ninth, with the only driver behind him, Charles Leclerc, also crashing before he could set a lap time.
At that point, the weekend could still be turned around. Piastri jumped behind the wheel of his McLaren, eager to make up for his poor qualifying performance. The problem was that he ended up being a bit too eager and jumped the start by quite a large margin. To add insult to injury, by the time the five red lights did go out, the anti-stall system of his engine kicked in, delaying his actual start. Just like that, the man predicted as a winner fell all the way to last place.
In P20 and with nothing to lose, Piastri began chasing the rest of the drivers. His desperate hunt didn’t last long. He only made it to turn five before crashing his McLaren into one of the barriers, bringing out a yellow flag and prematurely ending his Sunday.
While Piastri’s weekend is hard to beat, Norris’ was only marginally better. After his teammate’s qualifying crash, he was given the perfect opportunity to qualify a few spots higher and increase his chances of closing the gap in the Drivers’ Championship. Did he end up doing so? Not exactly.
After the drivers were allowed back on track, he put together a horrible lap that put him in P7, only two positions ahead of his McLaren teammate. His fans defended him by pointing to the terrible weather conditions. And while yes, the track was slippery and the wind made precise driving quite difficult, other drivers, like Max Verstappen, did manage to perform well.
He was given a second chance to make up some points on Sunday, after Piastri’s lap one crash. Once again, he wasted it. At the beginning of the race, he was overtaken by Leclerc and had to spend quite a few laps behind the Ferrari. He wasn’t helped by a terrible, four-second-long pit stop provided by his team.
Still, he did manage to move past the Monegasque, only to immediately become stuck behind Liam Lawson and Yuki Tsunoda. When all was said and done, and the cars crossed the finish line for the last time, he was seventh. Over the course of the race, he didn’t achieve a net gain of even one position and only made up six points to Piastri.
When it comes to McLaren, this was their worst weekend in recent memory. There were many issues within the team, but the biggest problems were the drivers. They were the ones who really made it a Grand Prix to forget.
It’s no secret that, so far, Piastri’s and Norris’ position in McLaren has been quite strong. Zak Brown, the team’s CEO, has loudly expressed how glad he is to have both drivers on board. Of course, one weekend does not erase all their good performances, but I wouldn’t be surprised if Baku made him wonder if he had bet this money on the right horses.
McLaren’s car is by far the quickest out of all the ones we see on the grid, but Piastri and Norris don’t seem to be able to extract all the performance out of its engine. If they can still consistently win, even with all their mistakes, I think it might make the team wonder what other drivers could do in the machinery. What records could truly be broken by the MCL39?
Aside from showing the flaws in the seemingly unstoppable McLaren, the weekend also unnerved the fans. Is this the championship fight we are supposed to be watching with bated breath? Do either Norris or Piastri deserve to win the trophy so many racing drivers dream of?
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