Lando Norris dismisses “missed opportunity” F1 narrative: “I did the best I could”

Lando Norris has denied claims that the 2025 F1 Azerbaijan Grand Prix was a missed opportunity in the title race.

With Oscar Piastri crashing out on the opening lap of the race, Norris had a big opportunity to reduce his teammate’s lead in the F1 drivers’ championship.

A sluggish Safety Car restart meant that Norris lost out to Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc.

That put Norris on the back foot for the rest of the race as he struggled to progress through the pack.

An extended first stint on the mediums allowed Norris to ultimately get ahead of Leclerc, thanks to a significant tyre delta.

Norris was unable to overtake either Yuki Tsunoda or Liam Lawson in the closing laps, settling for seventh in the end.

Norris’ result means he only managed to reduce Piastri’s lead by six points, making the gap between the pair now 25 with seven rounds to go.

When asked if this weekend was a missed opportunity, Norris replied: “I don’t know why everyone says that! I mean I did the best I could. I did the best I could today.

“The opportunity is there every weekend. Every race I didn’t win was an opportunity missed so of course today I wanted more. It was not a good result but I couldn’t do anything more today. It was lost today because of going out a bit early, not doing the best lap.

“Maybe I could have gained a couple of positions but I don’t think it would have changed much today. It was impossible to overtake. I look back to yesterday more than anything today.

“I thought the pace was alright today when it needed to be. I went long on the mediums. Could things have been a little better? Would anything have changed? Probably not.”

Red Bull pace “not a surprise”

With McLaren out of contention, Max Verstappen stormed to a dominant fourth victory of the year.

Like at Monza, Verstappen controlled the race from the front to win by over 14 seconds.

Verstappen now sits just 44 points behind Norris heading into the final stretch of the year.

Norris has insisted he’s not surprised by Red Bull’s improvement.

“People have caught. Red Bull brought upgrades last weekend so they are clearly doing well,” Norris added.

“Their race pace is strong. They have won plenty of races this year. It’s not a surprise. They’ve improved in some areas. They’ve been a winning team for the last however many years. We knew that they could be a threat. We know that some of these tracks aren’t going to be our best but it wasn’t our cleanest weekend.

“Things we want to do better and if we look back to yesterday. If I could change some things, I certainly would. We’re doing the best that we can every weekend. It’s hard to be perfect in the world of Formula 1.

“I am trying to work on things. Could I have done some things better? Yeah but it’s not without trying. I am doing everything that I can. I will continue doing what I am doing. Always trying to do better.”