Lando Norris finished the first six Azerbaijan Grands Prix he started and scored in every one of them, without ever reaching the podium. In 2026 the streak ended in the worst way available: a retirement, from fifth on the grid, with nothing to show for it.
Seven starts, 37 points and a best finish of fourth. Until this year it was the most relentlessly consistent record at Baku belonging to anybody who had not actually won anything there.
Six points finishes, then the first blank
The closest he has come is 2024: fifteenth on the grid, fourth at the flag, and thirteen points, which is fourth place plus the bonus point for the fastest lap. Eleven places gained at a circuit famous for not allowing it.
That is also the awkward one, because it is the race his team mate won. Oscar Piastri took victory from second on the grid the same afternoon Norris was carving through the midfield for fourth.
The rest is a flat line of useful afternoons: eighth in 2019, fifth in 2021, ninth in 2022 and 2023, seventh in 2025. Never a disaster, never a breakthrough. He has qualified seventh here on three separate occasions and turned it into eighth, ninth and seventh. Then 2026 broke the line completely, a fifth-place grid slot that ended on lap 35.
Lando Norris's Azerbaijan GP record year by year
Every Azerbaijan Grand Prix start, with the grid slot it came from and what it was worth.
| Season | Grid | Finish | Points | Team |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 7 | P8 | 4 | McLaren |
| 2021 | 9 | P5 | 10 | McLaren |
| 2022 | 11 | P9 | 2 | McLaren |
| 2023 | 7 | P9 | 2 | McLaren |
| 2024 | 15 | P4 | 13 | McLaren |
| 2025 | 7 | P7 | 6 | McLaren |
| 2026 | 5 | P19 | 0 | McLaren |
The one circuit that keeps saying no
Every one of the seven starts came with McLaren, through the years when the car was nowhere and the years when it was winning championships. The car changed completely. The result barely moved, and then it moved in the wrong direction.
He arrived in 2026 in the MCL40 leading races most weekends and left with nothing, while Oscar Piastri started third and finished thirteenth. On any reasonable reading Norris should have a Baku podium by now. Seven starts later he has neither that nor a clean sheet.
