{"id":156171,"date":"2025-09-20T02:31:09","date_gmt":"2025-09-20T02:31:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/156171\/"},"modified":"2025-09-20T02:31:09","modified_gmt":"2025-09-20T02:31:09","slug":"mclaren-heads-into-azerbaijan-grand-prix-on-verge-of-f1-constructors-title-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/156171\/","title":{"rendered":"McLaren heads into Azerbaijan Grand Prix on verge of F1 constructors\u2019 title"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s a big contrast to last year, when McLaren held off Ferrari in the final race of the season to win the constructors\u2019 title<\/a> for the first time in 26 years. \u201cIt\u2019s a pretty remarkable position that we\u2019re in,\u201d Piastri said. \u201cA very proud moment for everybody and myself included.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\"\"\/<\/p>\n

Norris and Hamilton fastest in practice<\/p>\n

It didn\u2019t go all McLaren\u2019s way in Friday practice after both Norris and Piastri bumped the barriers in the second session. Piastri is also facing an investigation for allegedly failing to slow for yellow flags. Similar cases have prompted grid penalties in the past.<\/p>\n

Norris said it was \u201ccostly\u201d and \u201cannoying\u201d that he had to limp back to the pits after hitting the wall with the rear left wheel midway through the session and didn\u2019t come back out. Piastri had his own brush with the barrier and was 12th, two places behind Norris.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was feeling good until then,\u201d Norris said of his incident. \u201cI\u2019d rather have this and push and find the limits than not push at all.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lewis Hamilton set the fastest time, .074 of a second ahead of his Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc, with George Russell third for Mercedes after overcoming an illness to take part.<\/p>\n

Norris led the way in first practice by .310 of a second from Piastri, who needed McLaren\u2019s mechanics to check a problem with his car. Leclerc was third. The session was stopped for over 20 minutes while damage to a trackside curb was fixed.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the pace is there, it\u2019s just not the easiest to get the most out of it,\u201d Piastri said. <\/p>\n

McLaren \u2018aligned\u2019 on its rules<\/p>\n

Was swapping the cars in Italy the best way for McLaren to make up for a team mistake beyond Norris\u2019 control? Or was Piastri punished for something that\u2019s \u201cjust part of racing,\u201d as he suggested over the radio?<\/p>\n

The Monza decision has prompted yet more discussion at McLaren about the best way to race.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve again had a lot of discussions about how we want to go racing and a lot of that is to stay for us,\u201d Piastri said, adding that giving away the details could allow rival teams to exploit McLaren\u2019s approach. \u201cI do think we have enough freedom to control our own destiny in the championship.\u201d<\/p>\n

That call left Piastri with a lead of 31 points, instead of 37. Expect to hear a lot more about it at the end of the season if that six-point swing decides the title.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can\u2019t plan for every single scenario that\u2019s going to happen, but I think we\u2019re very aligned,\u201d Piastri said. \u201cUltimately I respect the team\u2019s decisions and trust that they\u2019ll certainly do their best to make the right ones.\u201d<\/p>\n

Red Bull decisions<\/p>\n

Azerbaijan is a place where team rivalry has boiled over before. <\/p>\n

In 2018, it was where up-and-coming challenger Max Verstappen collided with established contender Daniel Ricciardo. It forced Red Bull into a rethink of its \u201cno team orders\u201d approach \u2014 not dissimilar to McLaren\u2019s \u201clet \u2019em race\u201d \u2014 and set the two drivers on opposite trajectories.<\/p>\n

Ricciardo was only on the podium once more that season, lost out to Verstappen by 79 points and left the team at the end of 2018. Verstappen hasn\u2019t had a teammate who\u2019s challenged him since. <\/p>\n

The gap between him and Yuki Tsunoda is vast \u2014 230 points to 12.<\/p>\n

Red Bull heads into Azerbaijan widely expected to promote Isack Hadjar, whose podium finish in the Netherlands<\/a> was an exclamation point in a strong rookie season, to Tsunoda\u2019s seat for 2026.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

AP auto racing: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/auto-racing<\/a><\/p>\n

James Ellingworth, The Associated Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s a big contrast to last year, when McLaren held off Ferrari in the final race of the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":156172,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[441],"tags":[49,48,578,576,577,82],"class_list":["post-156171","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-formula-1","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-f1","tag-formula-1","tag-formula1","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/156171","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=156171"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/156171\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/156172"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=156171"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=156171"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=156171"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}