Damon Hill says Oscar Piastri lags behind Lando Norris in ‘really subtle’ area that can’t be taught

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It’s been nearly impossible to separate McLaren drivers Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri this season, but Damon Hill thinks he’s spotted the Australian’s Achilles’ heel in recent races.

McLaren will argue they have the strongest driver line-up on the grid as they close in on a one-two in the drivers’ championship after the Las Vegas Grand Prix.

Lando Norris suffered a huge blow in the drivers’ championship as he and Oscar Piastri were both disqualified from the race due to excessive plank wear.

Max Verstappen won in Las Vegas, and while he’s still very much an outsider to win a fifth straight title, he’s now within one victory of Norris if the British driver fails to score in Qatar.

Damon Hill has been examining the two McLaren drivers and their individual skillsets from what he’s seen across the 2025 campaign.

He thinks Norris has an advantage in one area over Piastri that he’s not sure ‘anyone can teach’ the Australian.

READ MORE: McLaren driver Lando Norris’ life outside F1 from parents to celebration

Damon Hill doesn’t think Lando Norris’ tyre management can be taught to Oscar Piastri

Hill was speaking to BBC Sport about the two McLaren drivers, and when asked to rate their tyre management out of 10, he gave Norris a nine and Piastri an eight.

Explaining his decision, the 1996 world champion said: “Always an interesting one. For me, that’s easy: Lando. He’s shown patience when needed and seems very comfortable managing tyres.

“It’s a really subtle thing. Listening to Andrea Stella after Mexico, Lando seemed comfortable working with the tyre when it [started to] slide a bit and maintained balance.

“Oscar might have struggled with that technique, I think. I don’t know if anyone can teach that – it’s an innate skill which Lando has, and he’s able to find that.

“Think of it if it were a hole on a golf course; they talk about the hole being like a bucket – some people see it bigger than others. Lando sees it as a bigger area he can work in, and he’s able to move around in that area a little better.”

READ MORE: McLaren driver Oscar Piastri’s life outside F1 from height to girlfriend

Damon Hill says Oscar Piastri has allowed ‘anxiety to become a factor’ in his race starts

Hill provided some fascinating opinions on the two McLaren drivers, rating them on a variety of different factors.

One of those was their launches off the grid, with Norris criticised for his race starts earlier in his career.

He got off to another decent start in Las Vegas before outbraking himself, costing him two positions and a potential victory.

Piastri was hit by Liam Lawson after a decent getaway, but it’s an area where he’s failed to maximise potential.

Hill noted that Norris has improved in this area and thinks Piastri is now starting to struggle. He stated: “Oscar was probably more consistent early in the year, while Lando improved.

“Lando gave away points with poor starts at the beginning of the season, so you’d have to downgrade him a little bit. Early on, Oscar was quite decisive and undertook some brave moves when he had to.

“At the start, Oscar was more of a clean-cut overtaker. But he’s had problems in some races. Lando was not so decisive and maybe showed signs of being too cautious, and that got him into difficulty.

“Somewhere there’s been a bit of a switch, and Baku seems to have been a turning point for Oscar – a shock to the system. Mark [Webber, Piastri’s manager] was saying he’d never taken a corner off in junior formulas, which is remarkable in itself – but he’s certainly taken a few corners off recently.

“At the beginning of a race, Oscar has [recently] allowed anxiety to become a factor. Lando is now doing a better job in the early part of Grand Prix. But overall across the season, I would score it differently.”

READ MORE: Bernie Collins reveals what Oscar Piastri’s engineer told her after Las Vegas Grand Prix qualifying

Oscar Piastri knows what he needs to improve during the winter break ahead of the 2026 season

Piastri has seen a 34-point advantage that he held after the Dutch Grand Prix disappear during the final third of the season.

The championship is well and truly out of his hands, but he’s shown during his short F1 career how quickly he can improve certain areas of his skillset.

Piastri worked hard on qualifying during the winter break and has achieved five pole positions as a result this year.

If he can continue to improve his tyre management and race starts, then there’s no reason why he won’t be in contention to challenge for the championship next year.