McLaren misery is all their own fault (again) after Azerbaijan Grand Prix blunders

Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri should be thanking their lucky stars that Ferrari's engine is made of pig iron and pasta, because it's the only thing that stopped them being shoved bodily out of the fight for second in the 2026 F1 constructors' championship this weekend.

McLaren have overcome things outside of their control - most recently their VSC nightmare in Madrid - to snip away at Ferrari's points advantage over them at every race since the Belgian Grand Prix...until Baku.

That gap sat at 88 points after Spa, 85 after Norris' win in Hungary, 73 after the Dutch Grand Prix, 59 after Monza, and down to 52 after Madrid, despite Norris losing out on a possible win. How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.

Unfortunately, around the streets of Baku, the two orange-clad drivers took leave of their senses and started gnawing their own arms off instead.

F1 HEADLINES: Hamilton in turmoil as F1 star hit with double FIA punishment

Norris and Piastri lockups lead to worst case scenario

Piastri finished the race down in 14th, and Norris failed to finish the race after becoming collateral damage of a ballistic Alpine at a safety car restart, collectively bringing home a total of zero points – with Ferrari scrabbling to grab 20 of their own.

With Red Bull picking up 33 points of their own for a double podium finish, the papaya team are back in a situation where they're looking over their shoulder at fourth, rather than looking forward to second.

Unlike in Madrid, or when Piastri's gearbox gave up the ghost in Hungary, both McLaren drivers will have to take a look at themselves after this one.

The blame for Piastri is the easiest to direct. The Australian was fighting to keep Isack Hadjar behind him after a second safety car restart - an entirely reasonable expectation, after keeping Max Verstappen at bay for some 20 laps before the race was neutralised.

The race restarted on Lap 39, with Piastri in third place. A lap and a half later, he was light years outside the points after locking up his brakes disastrously at the end of the front straight, sliding into the runoff area and out of the top ten. Better than last year's performance, but not in any meaningful way.

That lockup will have looked unpleasantly familiar to anyone on the McLaren pit wall, who watched Norris lock up and go off in a very similar way some ten laps earlier, just before the safety car came out for the first time.

With the field not bunched up at the time, Norris only lost a couple of places due to that error. Unfortunately for him, those were two absolutely crucial places, because they put him right in the Alpine splash zone.

The great launch Norris got would've seen him well clear of the carnage had he started a couple of positions further forward. Call it fine margins, call it the butterfly effect, call it what you will. Being further back in the pack at a start, especially at a street circuit like Baku, exponentially increases the chance that you get caught up in someone else's nonsense.

Were Norris and Piastri mistakes actually their fault?

There is one fairly significant caveat here, which is that Piastri didn't seem entirely sure that his lockup was his fault.

Andrea Stella had warned coming into the weekend that Baku might be a particularly tricky track for the McLarens - although that was meant to be more power-based than brake-based - and the fact that both of the team's drivers had the exact same lockup may point to a car issue rather than driver error.

There you go McLaren fans, a little silver lining. It might not have been a pair of driver errors after all! Just, uh, the team not designing a good enough car.

Oh.

READ MORE: Verstappen F1 nightmare as Red Bull boss reveals 'huge problem'

READ MORE: F1 champion blames the WALL after shock Antonelli crash at the Azerbaijan GP

Written by

Chris Deeley - Editor

View full biography

Related

More F1 news

Latest F1 news

F1 Azerbaijan Grand Prix 2026 results: Final classification with all penalties applied from Baku

• 3 hours ago

FIA announce Franco Colapinto punishment after crash chaos at Azerbaijan Grand Prix

• Yesterday 18:55

Multiple F1 stars OUT of Azerbaijan Grand Prix after safety car chaos in Baku

• Yesterday 14:23

F1 News Today: Ferrari boss addresses Christian Horner speculation as champion calls for FIA ban

• Today 07:30

Lando Norris calls for FIA bans after Azerbaijan GP crash: 'Not driving that deserves to be in F1'

• Yesterday 16:03

F1 team boss reveals 'secret six months of negotiations' after signing Mercedes star

• 1 hour ago