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2h ago

Norris Tops Final Practice in Baku With McLaren on Front Foot

Championship leader Oscar Piastri fronts a McLaren campaign that could secure the constructors’ title with a dominant result.

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Overview

  • Lando Norris led FP3 in 1:41.223, with Max Verstappen 0.222s back and Oscar Piastri 0.254s off, sending McLaren into qualifying on top.
  • Friday running split the honors as Norris headed a disrupted FP1 after a kerb-protection red flag and Lewis Hamilton put Ferrari fastest in FP2 ahead of Charles Leclerc.
  • Piastri leads the drivers’ standings on 324 points, Norris follows on 293, and McLaren tops the constructors on 617, ahead of Ferrari on 280 and Mercedes on 260.
  • McLaren can clinch the constructors’ championship this weekend if it extends its lead beyond 346 points, a scenario reported as possible with a Baku one-two.
  • Leclerc expressed optimism at a circuit where he has taken four straight poles without a win, Hamilton targeted a first Ferrari podium, and Sauber’s Gabriel Bortoleto voiced confidence concerns after P14 and P15 on Friday.