Lando Norris conceded that winning the Azerbaijan Grand Prix was "unrealistic" after only being able to qualify in seventh for Sunday's race. 

Max Verstappen will start on pole for the sixth time this season after the reigning world champion steered clear of trouble in a chaotic day of qualifying in Baku. 

There were a record six red flags across the three sessions on Saturday, one of which was for championship leader Oscar Piastri, who could only manage ninth on the grid. 

It was Piastri's worst qualifying result of the season, with the Australian finding the barriers at Turn 3, a corner that had earlier put Charles Leclerc out of contention. 

His incident happened with just four minutes on the clock, handing McLaren team-mate Norris the perfect opportunity to narrow the gap in the Drivers' Championship standings. 

However, Norris, who is 31 points adrift of Piastri in the title hunt, was unable to take his chance as he finished over a second slower than poleman Verstappen. 

And given the tight street circuit, Norris acknowledged overtaking will be the biggest challenge, saying: "I would like to be on pole, of course.

"I just wasn't quick enough on the final run. It was always good before, and we took the risk of trying to go first out, thinking that if there was another crash, I would get the lap in.

"It was just a lot worse for the track because it was still raining a little bit. You win some, you lose some.

"I'm not disappointed, let's say, because it's a small mistake – I hit the wall on the final lap. It was just a trickier track for me, being the first one out, and I paid the price for that.

"Overtaking is pretty tough around here. We're obviously a bit out of position and there are a few different cars ahead of us. Max has been on the pace the whole weekend.

"I think to try and win tomorrow is maybe a bit unrealistic, but of course we want maximum points and I need to do some overtaking."

P7 and P9 after a very disrupted Qualifying session.

Strong pace from our duo but we will assess the damage on Oscar's car and come back stronger tomorrow #McLaren | #AzerbaijanGP  pic.twitter.com/IW1LsNyWNS

— McLaren (@McLarenF1) September 20, 2025

McLaren are seven podiums away from surpassing the all-time record for any team in the history of the sport, but their eyes were firmly fixed on winning the constructors' title.

They will win a 10th Constructors' Championship if they outscore Ferrari by at least nine points, while not being outscored by Mercedes by 12 points or Red Bull by 33 points.

And Piastri still believes that is a possibility, explaining that the strong pace of his car in Friday's practice and qualifying had reduced his concerns. 

"I probably braked a little bit late – I need to go back and have a look," Piastri said. "I feel like the car was good and the pace was there, so just a disappointing way to end it.

"We'll see where qualifying shakes out first. I'll go back and have a look at where it all went wrong today, but I've been much happier with the car today which is a good thing.

"Hopefully we can claw back some progress tomorrow."