Norris admits mistakes will define 2025 F1 title fight with Piastri

Lando Norris acknowledged that his 2025 Formula 1 title battle with McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri will be decided by whoever makes the fewest mistakes, rather than outright performance. 

A summary of Norris’ 2025 errors doesn’t make for encouraging reading. Norris started out of his grid spot in Bahrain and generally had a messy time overtaking rivals on his way to third, and followed that that up with a costly qualifying crash in Saudi Arabia. 

He underperformed in Q3 in Miami and Imola, and felt he made too many “little mistakes” on his final qualifying lap in Barcelona, ceding a race-deciding pole to Piastri. 

Montreal qualifying was messy once more and Norris started down in seventh before looking like the quicker of the two McLarens in the race, which led to his ill-fated collision with Piastri on the start-finish straight. The crash ended Norris’ race and meant he missed out on at least 10 championship points. 

Other than that race-ending error, which can be blamed on a misjudged gap, Norris’ mistakes this year have had relatively limited consequences. His worst result was fourth in Saudi Arabia, rallying from his Q3 smash with a strong race performance. The Briton has otherwise finished on the podium on every other occasion. 

But the bad news for Norris is that more often than not, his imperfections have given his team-mate a head start, which Piastri has already converted into four poles and five wins compared to Norris’ two apiece.

Some of those errors have been down to Norris’ struggles to get comfortable with the MCL39’s “numb” front axle handling on the limit, while other errors feel like they were relatively unforced. 

Piastri hasn’t been flawless either in a 2025 car that has been genuinely difficult to drive at times. The Australian missed out on potential poles in Japan, Miami and Monaco with imperfect Q3 laps, while he followed Norris off the track in a tricky mixed-weather race in Australia – with much greater consequences than Norris. 

But while Norris and Piastri have been trading blows fairly evenly in terms of pure performance, the British driver admitted that their title fight will be decided by the number of mistakes made, and race weekend execution. 

“I’ve been making more mistakes and I’ve been behind, so I think that’s been clear,” Norris acknowledged in Austria, going into the weekend trailing Piastri by 22 points. 

“I think it’s very close between us. Oscar’s certainly been a bit more comfortable than I have this season, and that’s the way it is. And I’ve had to try and improve and step up more than what I’ve had to in the past, simply because of some of the struggles and difficulties that I’ve had with the car this year. 

“But it’s also my job to drive whatever car I get given. So yes, it’s been tough, and Oscar’s been doing a good job. It’s been exciting to see how close it is, and good for the team as well, because I think that unlocks another step that not many other teams have. But yeah, at the minute, that’s how I would probably say it.” 

Charles Leclerc, Ferrari, Lando Norris, McLaren, Oscar Piastri, McLaren

Photo by: Sam Bagnall / Motorsport Images via Getty Images

“Not the most joyful conversations” 

Norris didn’t divulge too many details on the post-Canada conversations he had with Andrea Stella and the McLaren team after he hit his team-mate, but felt the outcome will make the outfit stronger. 

“There’s been good understanding of everything from my side and explaining that to the team. I think I made it clear from the immediate moment that I misjudged it and I took the fault for it,” he said. 

“Of course, not the most joyful conversations, but conversations that needed to be had, clearly. We all know what rule number one was, and continues and will always be. 

“The trust in the honesty that Oscar and I have for one another, it’s important that we keep it up, because we don’t want to have the downfall that we know many other teams have had in the past. We want to race each other fair and hard and on the limit, and not have a repeat of what happened last time out. 

“Many things have come out stronger than I would say they were prior to the weekend, which you might not expect, but I think it’s a good outcome.” 

Norris admitted “it took me a little time” to get over the crash, but insisted he had turned the page. “My team means everything to me. The people that I’ve grown up with, the people that have given me more opportunity in Formula 1,” he said. 

“So, it was a tough couple of days, but also I think something I got better at is dealing with those moments and speaking to Andrea, my team around me, Zak [Brown], and trying to move on as quickly as possible was very important. So yeah, I’ve come into this weekend with that in the past, and [ready to] go again.”

With less than a race win between the papaya pair, there is still all to play for, but the best time for Norris to start minimising unforced errors is right now.