Peter Windsor explains why McLaren was ‘unfair’ to criticise Baku marshals for Lando Norris qualifying exit

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McLaren’s Lando Norris will start the Azerbaijan Grand Prix towards the back of the grid, after coming across yellow flags at the wrong moment in qualifying.

Lando Norris was setting a lap time in the closing stages of Q1 when he encountered a brief yellow flag at Turn 15 for a slow-moving Alpine of Esteban Ocon, who was rejoining the track after running wide onto the escape road.

The Briton backed out of his lap because he lost the momentum heading onto the long Baku straight, which caused him to drop to P17 on the grid. He will start the race from P16 after Pierre Gasly was disqualified due to a technical infringement.

Norris was left speechless after suffering the enormous blow to his title hopes, while McLaren criticised the “unnessasary” yellow flag displayed by the marshals.

Speaking on his YouTube channel, Peter Windsor believes the team made a mistake in qualifying that ultimately caused Norris to drop out early and face having to come through the field during the race.

McLaren should have copied Ferrari with Lando Norris

Norris would have had enough pace to reach Q2, especially as his teammate Oscar Piastri is due to start from second on the grid.

The Briton followed the regulations correctly, however, Windsor felt that McLaren should have been more savvy with its run plan given how busy the Baku street circuit gets in the closing stages due to the high track evolution.

“It’s a bit unfair for McLaren to criticise the marshals for that because at the end of the day, it does come under the heading of safety. Everybody in F1 is constantly drilled to be as safety-conscious as possible. I can see in a way that it’s bad luck for Lando, but you make your own luck,” said Windsor.

“The reason Charles Leclerc didn’t get into that situation is because while there was 18 cars on track, he was in the garage because they told the engineers to make sure they got a time out of him on that one set early on. That’s what McLaren should’ve done.”

Lando Norris faces a comeback race to close the gap to Max Verstappen

Norris will need to make up several places early on if he wants to get into the points, but that could prove difficult with the mix of low downforce setups with the cars in front of him and how the McLaren reacts to ‘dirty air’ behind other cars.

Championship rival Max Verstappen will start the race from sixth on the grid after suffering a difficult qualifying session in his Red Bull, which means he also faces a recovery drive.

READ MORE: Five unforgettable Azerbaijan Grand Prix including Verstappen vs Ricciardo

The positive for McLaren is that Piastri will start on the front row having split the two Ferrari’s, with Charles Leclerc starting from pole and the highest Red Bull, Sergio Perez, starting fourth.

Verstappen is currently leading the championship by 62 points from Norris with just eight races left in 2024.