Lando Norris just broke Alain Prost’s 37-year McLaren record at the United States Grand Prix

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Lando Norris edged closer to his teammate Oscar Piastri in the 2025 title hunt as he finished second at the United States Grand Prix.

Since his mechanical failure at Zandvoort, the Brit has been slowly closing the gap to his McLaren teammate in the drivers’ championship. This has been done controversially, thanks to the Woking outfit’s team orders at Monza and Singapore.

Norris’ P2 at the United States Grand Prix puts him just 14 points behind Piastri with five races to go, after the Aussie struggled in P5. The McLaren duo are now facing a bigger threat from Max Verstappen, whose victory moves him 40 points off the championship lead.

Norris and Piastri crashed out of the Sprint race after the latter’s ill-timed move on Nico Hulkenberg sent him into the former at the first turn. In qualifying for Sunday, it was Norris who established the advantage, lining up P2 behind Verstappen.

The 25-year-old lost out to Charles Leclerc at the start and struggled to get past him during the first stint and after the pit stops. F1 fans criticised Norris’ ‘horrendous’ overtaking as it took 21 laps to pass the Ferrari the first time and lap 51 for the second overtake.

Lando Norris breaks Alain Prost’s record as the first McLaren driver to score 15 podiums in a season

Nevertheless, the McLaren driver got the job done and came home to finish an important second place at COTA. It marked his 15th podium of the season – a first for a McLaren driver in their history.

Norris’ feat has dethroned Alain Prost’s record for the most podiums scored by a McLaren driver in a single season. The Frenchman scored an incredible 14 podium finishes in 1988, crossing the line in the top two for all of them.

Despite this feat, Prost lost the 1988 title to his McLaren teammate Ayrton Senna by three points. While the Brazilian scored 11 podiums, he won eight races compared to the Frenchman’s seven.

As only the best 11 results were counted towards the championship that season, Senna’s extra win gave him his maiden F1 title, beating Prost. The latter went on to win the title the following year before leaving McLaren for Ferrari.

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

Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri are under pressure from Max Verstappen to seal the title

While Norris is closing in on Piastri, the McLarens are losing their advantage over Max Verstappen. The Red Bull driver looked out of contention after Zandvoort as he sat over 100 points behind, but now, he is just 40 points back.

Verstappen has beaten Norris and Piastri in the last four races, with Red Bull clearly taking a step forward in development to match their rivals. McLaren are now under immense pressure as frustrations grow amongst their drivers.

McLaren’s plan is ‘doomed to fail’, according to Martin Brundle. They want to keep harmony with Norris and Piastri, but team orders and collisions in recent races have caused friction.

Leclerc thinks Piastri will win the title as he still has the advantage in the standings. But Norris and Verstappen are mounting the pressure on the Aussie, who has not scored a podium since Monza.