McLaren arrived in Baku with only 8 points gap to leading Red Bull in the Constructor’s Championship standings. As Red Bull was struggling in the last two rounds, due to problems with the RB20, McLaren was aiming to take the lead after the Azerbaijan Gran Prix.

However, Lando Norris is slightly worried about the pace of McLaren in Baku.

On Friday, the British driver finished fourth in FP1 and his teammate Oscar Piastri in sixth. In FP2 the final classification sheet doesn’t look well for Norris as he finished only P17, however, he got impended by Pierre Gasly during his flying lap. Piastri ended the session in fifth place.

Even though it is not possible to predict how the weekend will go based only on the results in free practices, the British driver wasn’t really happy with the lap times.

"We're quite a long way off. I'm having to push way too much to try and get a lap time out of it, clearly," Norris told F1 TV.

"I think where Oscar was is kind of more where we are. If we nail it, we're just about there, but I'm sure the [competitors] are not even close to nailing it yet.

"We have quite a lot to find, honestly, compared to Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull. They're all very similar, and then there's a good three, four-tenths gap back to us. So, a lot of work for us to do."

When questioned about McLaren's practice deficit, given its dominant performance in recent months, he cleared up that every circuit is different for each team.

"There have been plenty of circuits we've not been quick. People just love to believe that we're the best everywhere, but we're not.

"We've been doing a very good job so far, a better job than other teams, but we've always known the Ferraris are very quick here. With this kind of track conditions, Mercedes is going to be very quick.

"The car's still not bad. I'm sure we can still get a lap time out of it, but we're not as clearly ahead as we have been on the races."

His teammate Oscar Piastri seemed a bit more optimistic heading into the weekend.

"I think it's been a decent day," Piastri said.

"It's a bit hard to know at the moment, with the track evolving so much still, but our pace seems in the ballpark.

"I would say Ferrari looked pretty strong. Red Bull looks quick, and Mercedes as well. At the moment anyone in the top four teams looks looked good."