Mark Webber explains why Lando Norris has dealt with F1 title pressure better than Oscar Piastri

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Max Verstappen is capable of incredible feats, but unless something extraordinary happens, the 2025 F1 championship will be decided between Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri.

McLaren have already wrapped up the constructors’ championship and will be hoping either Lando Norris or Oscar Piastri can follow in Lewis Hamilton’s footsteps as their most recent title winner.

Norris had concerns about his McLaren as early as pre-season, and that allowed Piastri to open up a decent lead in the standings.

The Australian won five of the first nine races, and even though Norris was 23 points ahead after the opening race in Melbourne, Piastri took the lead in Saudi Arabia and didn’t look back.

The turning point for Norris was Hungary, winning on the alternative strategy after a slow stop.

Norris has gone on to win back-to-back races in Mexico City and the Sao Paulo Grand Prix, and was last beaten by Piastri in the race at Zandvoort when he suffered a mechanical failure.

Piastri had a nightmare weekend in Baku, and while his fans were upset with McLaren’s decision-making at Monza and in Singapore, he’s been outraced by his teammate from Austin onwards.

Former F1 driver Mark Webber is Piastri’s manager and has pinpointed why Norris has kicked on as the pressure of the title race has heated up, while his fellow countryman has started to struggle.

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

Mark Webber says Lando Norris is ‘backing’ up his chat in battle with Oscar Piastri

Webber was a pundit on Channel 4 for the race in Brazil, and asked about Norris’ promising form, he said: “Well, I mean, like any sport, you want to try and get the foundations right, work on clearly his qualifying, work on consistency around it, especially the big races.

“Ultimately, the scoreboard never lies. He has done that. I mean, he’s backing it up; the chat has been backed up with good results.

“And then obviously that then swings back against the others, whether it’s Max, he was having inconsistencies, Oscar, so it does move around, right?

“That great line, you’re either giving pressure or taking pressure in this sport, and that’s how it goes.”

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

Lando Norris promises to ‘ignore the noise and keep pushing’ in his pursuit of the 2025 F1 title

Norris goes into the final three race weekends of the 2025 season with a 24-point advantage over Piastri.

He’ll know that finishing second at every race between now and Abu Dhabi will be enough to win the title, but a win in Las Vegas would almost certainly put Verstappen out of mathematical contention and give Piastri virtually no chance of completing a comeback.

Norris spoke about his race weekend in Brazil and his mindset going into the final triple-header and said: “It was an amazing race, and it’s nice to win here in Brazil. It’s an amazing track with amazing fans. This one was for one of my mentors, Gil [de Ferran]. I hope he’d be very proud.

“It was a great win, but to be honest, seeing how quick the competition was today, it’s clear we’ve still got work to do.

“I’ll go back, see the team, congratulate them and see what we can do better. Looking ahead, I’ll keep focusing on myself, keep my head down, ignore the noise and keep pushing.”