McLaren’s Oscar Piastri will need to click into gear quickly in qualifying for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix after a poor practice showing on Friday.
And Lando Norris topped the timesheets in Saturday’s Practice 3, 0.222s ahead of Max Verstappen and 0.254s ahead of Piastri.
With qualifying beginning at 10pm AEST on Saturday night, Piastri will need to find more pace in his pursuit of pole position, after being 12th fastest in Q2.
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The Australian world championship leader was two spots back from teammate, and title rival, Norris as Lewis Hamilton wound back the clock to register the fastest time on Friday.
Hamilton’s Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc was second fastest, and if they can maintain the pace in qualifying, they can stop McLaren from sealing the constructor’s championship this weekend.
Leclerc has taken pole in Baku on four straight occasions, so undeniably enters qualifying as the favourite to secure first place on the grid.
Piastri joined him on the front row last year before going on to claim the second victory of his F1 career, and will be hoping for more of the same this weekend to extend his 31 points lead in the driver standings.
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The BBC’s Jennie Gow recently shared a prediction from Piastri which showed his confidence heading into 2025.
“He turned to me with a steely gaze and said: ‘That championship will be mine next year’,” Gow recalled on ABC’s Saturday Sledge.
“I didn’t forget it, because of the intensity of his gaze … it haunted me in a way.”
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