Lando Norris told he lacks the ‘magical touch’ of 53-win F1 legend that Oscar Piastri has proved he possesses

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Lando Norris has fallen further behind Oscar Piastri in the drivers’ championship after his retirement from the Canadian Grand Prix.

The Brit came into Montreal 10 points behind his McLaren teammate after the Woking outfit secured their third 1-2 finish of the season in Barcelona. Norris was determined to finish ahead of Piastri at the Canadian GP after the Aussie grabbed his fifth win of 2025.

But the 25-year-old had another blunder in qualifying as he could only manage P7. Martin Brundle noticed a ‘glitch’ from Norris in Q3 after he had topped Q1 and was second in Q2, but faded away when it really mattered.

Piastri lost P3 to Kimi Antonelli at the start and the McLarens struggled to make up ground in the dirty air. Norris was faster than his teammate and looked to pass in the closing stages, but disaster struck on lap 67.

The Brit hit the back of his teammate down the main straight and put his car into the wall, forcing him to retire from the race. Norris was lucky to avoid a grid penalty for the Austrian GP as he completed 90% of the Grand Prix, allowing the stewards to hand him an ineffective five-second time penalty.

Piastri continued to finish P4 and extended his lead at the top of the standings to 22 points. Norris is struggling to cope with the pressure as his teammate finds that ‘magical touch’ in the championship battle.

Lando Norris told he lacks the ‘magical touch’ of Sebastian Vettel that Oscar Piastri proves he has

Having been largely outperformed by Norris since joining McLaren in 2023, Piastri has found another level in 2025. The 24-year-old has been much stronger over one lap, and while his teammate has been quicker in races, he has extracted the maximum from every weekend.

Mistakes have cost Norris dearly in 2025 as he has only grabbed two wins thus far. Nico Rosberg says McLaren are worried about the Brit as his engineer acted as a ‘psychologist’ over the radio, calming his driver down throughout the race in Canada.

Now almost a race win’s worth of points behind his teammate, Norris has paid for not having that extra level of performance. Robert Doornbos thinks he lacks the ‘magical touch’ of F1 legend Sebastian Vettel, who won 53 races with Red Bull and Ferrari and four titles between 2010-2013.

The Dutchman pointed out that Piastri has proven he has that ability in 2025, but Norris is not on the same level: “He’s not that level of Oscar. I think Oscar is really a world championship driver, many titles in the near future,” he said via The Pit Talk Podcast.

“And then there’s a difference between a very good Grand Prix driver who can win races, who’s up there, but doesn’t have this magical touch.

“For example, Sebastian Vettel, Coulthard, Webber, Doornbos! But then there’s Sebastian Vettel who’s always two, three tenths faster.

“And if you add that up during a Grand Prix and the way he drives, the way he defends, Oscar, it’s different. It’s pure talent.”

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

Do McLaren need to intervene with team orders after Canadian GP crash?

McLaren CEO Zak Brown has given his driver permission to fight in 2025 after restricting them with ‘papaya rules’ in the second half of 2024. He also warned that Norris and Piastri were bound to clash at some point; he was proven correct in Montreal.

The McLaren pair have not shied away from wanting to battle each other, but have also gone over what is acceptable at times. Interestingly, Fred Vasseur feels Norris and Piastri’s crash was a good thing as the drama would help to attract new fans to F1.

But for McLaren, the incident gives them something to discuss moving forward. Max Verstappen is banking on Norris and Piastri dropping points to win the title; he closed the gap to 43 points after finishing second in Canada.

Ted Kravitz expects Andrea Stella to talk to Norris and stress that his drivers must allow more room for each other on track when battling. McLaren are unlikely to implement team orders when both drivers can still win the title, but last weekend proved that caution must be taken.