Norris says McLaren handles tougher than it seems: It bit me and it bit Oscar

Perched on a plastic chair trackside, Oscar Piastri watched the Azerbaijan Grand Prix unfold on a phone.

The Formula 1 standings leader became a spectator after colliding with the barrier about a minute into the race. What he saw was still encouraging for his title chances.

Piastri's McLaren teammate Lando Norris missed a chance to capitalize on Piastri's misfortune for the second day running as he finished seventh, the same place he'd started.

For all the speed the McLaren MCL39 has shown this season, Norris argued that Azerbaijan proves it's not as easy to drive as it may seem.

"It can be unbelievably fast at times,” Norris told broadcaster Sky Sports. “It can still bite you if you put one step wrong. That's what we're trying to work on. It's difficult to improve. It can bite, and it bit me this weekend and it bit Oscar.”

Norris can't capitalize

Handed a chance to slash Piastri's 31-point lead, all Norris could do was trim it to 25 points with seven rounds of the championship to go. Norris argued the race was really “lost yesterday” with mistakes in qualifying that left him stuck in traffic.

He spent much of the race fighting to get back past Ferrari's Charles Leclerc, who had started three places behind him, and finished it with a series of unsuccessful attempts to pass Yuki Tsunoda's Red Bull.

Norris might not have been stuck behind Tsunoda if not for McLaren losing time with a slow pit stop for the second race in a row, potentially costing him three places.

McLaren will have to wait until the next race in Singapore to seal the constructors' title, too.

While Max Verstappen has picked up back-to-back wins, he's still 69 points off the title and played down his chances of retaining the championship, saying he'll take things race by race.

Piastri's rare mistake

As frustrating as Norris' weekend was, it was still a disaster for Piastri.

A crash in qualifying, jumping the start in the race, nearly stalling, then crashing while trying to make up places. All were unusually basic errors for the otherwise consistent Australian.

Piastri told Sky Sports he made a “silly, simple error” in going into the corner too fast for the conditions, but said he wasn't worried about his form.

“I would be concerned if I was slow and trying to make up for it that way and having these errors because of that,” he said.

"The fact that they’re just simple lapses in judgement, it’s obviously not a position I want to be in or put the mechanics in because it’s been a rough weekend for them. If I’m trying to find a silver lining, I suppose I have that.”

Until Sunday, Piastri had scored points in every one of the previous 34 races, a streak going back 16 months.

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AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing