Lando Norris called out for his ‘not world championship worthy’ acts in Oscar Piastri F1 title fight

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Lando Norris responded to his lowest moment this year by winning three of the past four Grands Prix, and also moved within nine points of Oscar Piastri in the standings.

A season-high 22-point deficit hit Norris in the face following the Canadian Grand Prix, when the Briton retired on the spot after crashing into his McLaren teammate Piastri in June. Yet it failed to derail Norris’ campaign, as he struck back with wins in Austria, Britain and Hungary.

Norris crashed into the rear of Piastri’s car in Canada as the 25-year-old misjudged the room on his teammate’s inside while eyeing an overtake for P4. The collision resulted in the Bristol native’s only failure to score in the 2025 F1 season after 14 Grands Prix and three F1 Sprints.

Piastri has scored points in every Grand Prix and Sprint so far this term, as well as securing six Grand Prix wins to Norris’ five, to lead the F1 drivers’ championship with 284 points over 275. Both McLaren drivers have secured four pole positions and taken 12 podiums this term.

Lando Norris called out for making mistakes unbefitting of an F1 drivers’ champion

The race pace that Piastri can produce has also convinced Michael Bleekemolen that the 24-year-old boasts the edge in his title fight with Norris. While Norris won the Hungarian Grand Prix via a one-stop strategy, Piastri only finished 0.698 seconds behind with a two-stop race.

READ MORE: Every error that cost Lando Norris points in his failed 2024 F1 title challenge

Additionally, Piastri beat Norris to win the Belgian Grand Prix through his race pace on a set of medium C3 tyres, against his teammate’s hard C1 compound. At times, Bleekemolen has even questioned Norris for some of the mistakes the Briton has made that Piastri does not.

Bleekemolen told RacingNews365: “I think it’s Piastri. If he doesn’t make any mistakes, he’s often just a tad faster. We saw that at the last race, of course. He came back on track.

“Norris has some really good weekends, but he also has those things every now and then that make you think, ‘Oh, that’s not world championship worthy’.”

Oscar Piastri has forced Lando Norris to make mistakes, especially during qualifying

Crashing into Piastri during the Canadian GP is the biggest mistake that Norris has made this season, yet it was far from his sole mistake. In contrast, the only real blot on his papaya pal’s copybook is from when Piastri spun out of P2 in the rain in Australia before recovering to P9.

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

The Canadian GP also saw the only true error that Norris has made in a race this year. Norris called himself “clueless” after qualifying P6 in Bahrain and an “idiot” after crashing in Q3 for the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, while trying to match the speed that Piastri carried for Turn 4.

Crashing in Q3 in Jeddah yielded Norris’ worst qualifying result of the 2025 F1 season so far with P10. Piastri has not qualified worse than P4 through the first 14 Grand Prix this season, which is another major reason why he sits nine points clear of Norris at the summer break.

Ferrari rival Charles Leclerc refuses to rule out Norris winning the 2025 F1 title, if the Briton can “put things together”. And qualifying will, no doubt, be one of the first areas that Norris knows he can improve, if the nine-time Grand Prix winner is to deny Piastri the 2025 F1 title.