McLaren’s Baku upgrades work, but straight-line speed lags
NXTbets Pro | Published On: September 26, 2026
McLaren upgrades work
McLaren brought a major upgrade package to Baku, and the team said the changes worked as intended. The list was broad, with revised sidepods, engine cover, floor, diffuser, rear suspension and rear wing. McLaren said the package produced the aerodynamic load and performance it expected, which gave the team a clear answer on the main technical question of the weekend. The challenge was the circuit. McLaren looked off the pace in practice before qualifying, and Andrea Stella said Baku was likely to be difficult because the layout lacks medium- and high-speed corners. That reduced the benefit of the update and limited the chance to show the full strength of the new aero work. The issue from there was how much of that gain Baku could reward. On a track that does not suit every part of the package, McLaren had to wait for qualifying and the race to see how much the new parts could shift the weekend.
Qualifying lifts McLaren
Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris gave McLaren a much stronger look in qualifying after the subdued start to the weekend. In Q3, Piastri briefly held provisional pole, and McLaren briefly locked out the front row with Norris before the order changed again. Piastri eventually qualified third for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix with a 1 minute 43.364 seconds lap. Charles Leclerc beat him by 0.001 seconds, and George Russell took pole 0.838 seconds ahead of him. Norris ended up fifth after a lock-up on his final Q3 lap. The session still showed how quickly McLaren had found speed once the laps counted most. Piastri said he was surprised by the team’s pace after a difficult start to the weekend, and the turnaround mattered because the earlier practice runs had painted a flatter picture. McLaren had looked behind in the early running, then delivered a much stronger qualifying step when it needed it. That left Piastri in the mix near the front and Norris close enough to matter, even if the final order kept McLaren from turning that flash of pace into a front-row lockout.
Straight-line speed hurts
McLaren’s straight-line speed remained the bigger concern. The team found a power-related issue on Norris’s car that left him short of top speed, and Stella said the problem appeared to be linked to fuel injection behavior while McLaren investigated it. The effect showed up clearly in a straight line, where McLaren was significantly slower than Mercedes and Russell was 11.5 km/h faster than Norris on the straights. Norris said he had to push harder than Piastri to make up for the deficit, which showed how much the car’s lack of top speed shaped the driving approach. Piastri said McLaren’s race pace looked stronger than its one-lap pace and expected a chaotic race in Baku. Norris said the long straights and limited overtaking made the race complicated. Those comments fit the picture McLaren faced after qualifying. The upgrade package brought the aerodynamic performance the team wanted, but the straight-line deficit and the issue on Norris’s car still shaped the outlook. Piastri had the pace to fight near the front, Norris had work to do on top speed and McLaren went into the race knowing the weekend could still turn on how well it handled both problems.
