Why McLaren apologised to Lando Norris after Azerbaijan Grand Prix qualifying

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After all the discussions about whether McLaren made the right choice to allow their drivers to race in Monza, there appears to be very little risk of that being a problem during the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

Lando Norris knows he’s got an incredibly tough task to catch Max Verstappen in the Drivers’ Championship.

Norris’s teammate Oscar Piastri is willing to help him in his fight to win the title but he’s going to have his work cut out on Sunday with the Brit starting a long way down the order after a frustrating Q1 exit at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

His lap wasn’t quick enough and Norris then got caught up in a brief yellow flag brought out due to slow-moving Esteban Ocon who has had a torrid weekend.

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Journalist Andrew Benson was speaking on the Chequered Flag Podcast and was in contact with the McLaren team about the incident.

On Norris’s team radio, an apology was offered to the 24-year-old after the session ended.

Benson has now explained why that was the case even though the circumstances that saw Norris eliminated were out of his and the team’s control.

Why McLaren apologised to Lando Norris after shock Azerbaijan Grand Prix qualifying exit

Talking about the incident, Benson said: “So just to clarify on the Norris yellow flag incident, I’ve been in sort of live conversation with McLaren about it while we’re doing this.

“They say he was shown yellow flags, so just to bury that one, because there were questions as to whether it was just a white flag, which means just as a slowing car, so he’s definitely got yellow flags.

“What McLaren is saying is what they’re not sure of is why the yellow flags were shown at that point, and they’re going to be picking that up with the FIA, because what it was about was Alpine’s Esteban Ocon, who was driving slowly around the circuit.

“What was he doing driving around the circuit, first of all ruining everybody’s final laps?

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“Was it necessary if it’s a slow car to have yellow flags? The yellow flags are really for a stopped car, not a slow car.

“So, lots of questions about that too for the FIA as well as McLaren, and of course it’s not the first time the way the FIA have run their race operations has been called into question in the last few years.”

Host Ben Edwards then commented and said: “It’s quite interesting that team engineered also made an apology to Lando as he came in slowly.”

Benson replied: “They say that was just a general remark about the bad luck that he’d had, and it wasn’t a specific reference to anything that the team had done wrong.”

Ted Kravitz left speechless by Lando Norris interview after Azerbaijan Grand Prix qualifying

Norris has always been very hard on himself and expects to be perfect every time he steps into the car.

Given the gap he has to make up on Verstappen, he’s going to require perfection if he wants to win the title but as Saturday showed, sometimes circumstances are out of a driver’s control.

Ted Kravitz was stunned by his post-qualifying interview where Norris was essentially speechless when trying to explain the result.

Baku is notorious for safety cars and a clever strategy from McLaren could give Norris a chance of scoring decent points if things go his way.

Piastri may still have a job to do but he’ll know that winning the race is now essential for McLaren’s hopes of winning the Constructors’ Championship.