Damon Hill explains why Lando Norris ‘can’t be comfortable’ at McLaren

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Lando Norris has been the number-one driver at McLaren for the last few years, despite coming up against some of the most experienced on the grid.

Only Carlos Sainz has beaten Lando Norris so far throughout a season, while Daniel Ricciardo was unable to match him in the two years he was partnered with the Briton.

Even though he is the team leader at McLaren, Norris now faces the prospect of having Oscar Piastri beat him after an impressive run of races for the Australian.

McLaren has turned around its fortunes this season and Piastri has finished ahead of Norris in two of the last four races, notably in Hungary where he beat him off the line and went on to win his first Grand Prix.

Norris went on to blame his poor start for having lost the win from pole, however former F1 driver and 1996 World Champion Damon Hill believes much of his mistakes are down to facing a challenge from his teammate when speaking on the F1 Nation podcast.

Damon Hill puts Lando Norris’ mistakes down to Oscar Piastri

It is the first time that Norris has faced stiff competition from a teammate in F1, so he is naturally facing increased pressure as McLaren can credibly challenge Red Bull for a title.

Hill believes it will continue to be a problem for Norris as the season goes on and Piastri manages to close the gap.

“Lando has enjoyed the status of being the person in McLaren, which provided the results for them and excited them. Now we’ve got Oscar, who is equally the man,” said Hill.

“I still think Lando’s got the edge, but it can’t be comfortable when you look over your shoulder and you’ve out-qualified by your teammate by only a tenth of a second or even less sometimes. That means that every time you go out to do a lap, you have to get every tiny, tiny bit right because otherwise, you’ll be behind him.

“The point is if they don’t win the world championship with Lando or Oscar this year. Let’s say, Lando, who’s closest and they miss out by a few points, McLaren will look back at Hungary and go, why do we do that?”

Oscar Piastri racing with injury since the British GP

Remarkably, Piastri has been driving with an injury that he sustained during the British Grand Prix in the last few races.

Piastri shared a photo of an X-ray on social media which was taken a day after the race at Silverstone. It is unclear how he sustained the fracture, however, he admitted that he is still suffering from the problem.

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On his way to winning his first race in Hungary, the Australian was racing with a fracture to his 6th rib and has yet to fully recover from it.

Alpine advisor Flavio Briatore has recently stated that he thinks Piastri is a future World Champion, having also helped both Michael Schumacher and Fernando Alonso to titles.

Piastri will have two weeks to recoup before the Dutch Grand Prix, where he will face up against home hero Max Verstappen who will want to get his title defence back on track.