His underwhelming practice lap times followed the news that McLaren will do what is needed to help Norris close down the gap to championship leader Max Verstappen, who has not won a race since the Spanish Grand Prix.
Piastri has agreed to assist Norris on a race-by-race basis, but expressed a significantly more optimistic outlook on the team’s performance in Baku after he finished the day 0.499s off Charles Leclerc’s FP2 lap.
READ MORE: Piastri confirms he will ‘help out’ Norris in quest to overhaul Verstappen after McLaren team orders talks
“I think it’s been a decent day,” the Australian said. “It’s a bit hard to know at the moment with the track evolving so much still. Our pace seems in the ballpark I would say. Ferrari look pretty strong, Red Bull look quick and Mercedes as well.
“At the moment anyone in the top four teams looks good. Our long runs seemed quite competitive, which is good, but some people are putting down some big laps and if you hook it up it really makes a big difference so that’s going to be the name of the game tomorrow.”
