Piastri and Norris on verge of MONSTER FIA penalty at Azerbaijan Grand Prix

F1 championship contenders Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri are both at risk of picking up a huge penalty for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix weekend.

The McLaren team-mates head to Baku with 31 points between them in the standings, with Norris closing the gap to the Australian at the Italian GP last time out.

With eight races left in the season, the thrilling championship battle enters its final third, and both drivers are ready to do battle once more.

However, they are both running dangerously close to the threshold of a slam dunk 10-place grid penalty for using too many power unit elements.

All drivers are allowed to use four turbo chargers, ICEs, MGU-Hs and MGU-Ks across the season, and both Norris and Piastri have used four of each of those elements already.

Using a fifth would be a 10-place grid penalty, and that's for each element, which is why Lewis Hamilton was handed a mammoth 60-place grid penalty at the Belgian GP earlier in the summer.

A number of other drivers are also on the cusp of the penalty threshold, including Max Verstappen and George Russell, while drivers who have already reached five power unit elements - like Hamilton - will be given five-place grid penalties if they take a sixth element.

On top of this, Piastri's heart would have been in his mouth during FP1 in Azerbaijan, when a power unit issue saw him needing to be back in the garage for around 25 minutes. The team did manage to get him back out on track during the session, however, suggesting that a new power unit element was not used.

Norris seeking Baku redemption

British star Norris heads to Baku needing a victory to start closing the gap to Piastri in the standings, with just eight races remaining in the season.

It's a similar situation to 2024 for the Brit, when Norris headed into last year's Azerbaijan GP 62 points behind Max Verstappen in the drivers' championship, but a horror qualifying meant that he ended up starting down in 17th.

A brilliant performance in the race enabled Norris to finish fourth, ahead of Verstappen, but he needed more than that to start narrowing the wide gap in the standings.

He now heads to Baku involved in another championship battle, and he will hope to banish those memories and instead showcase why he has what it takes to be the 2025 drivers' champion.

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