Peter Windsor confused by ‘strange’ McLaren call that hurt Lando Norris at Mexico City Grand Prix

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Lando Norris has never scored a podium at the Mexico City Grand Prix. But realistically, he may need to win this weekend’s race to have any chance of overhauling Max Verstappen in the drivers’ championship.

Even if Norris wins the race and Verstappen either retires or fails to score points, the gap will be at least 31. That would look far more surmountable, but it’s clearly an unlikely outcome.

The 24-year-old needs at the very least a multitude of cars between himself and Verstappen. Red Bull’s recent upgrades appear to have made them victory contenders again when the Dutchman previously had to focus on limiting the damage.

Ferrari’s improvement could aid Norris, but only if he can get ahead of the scarlet red cars himself. After he lost five points in the USA, his title bid is at risk of petering out.

Indeed, the focus may soon shift towards the constructors’ race. A thrilling three-way battle may unfold with McLaren leading and Red Bull and Ferrari both less than 50 points back.

As it stands, Verstappen will seal the title with a race to spare. If he can increase his lead to at least 61 points before Qatar, he’ll do it with two rounds remaining.

Peter Windsor questions why Pato O’Ward replaced Lando Norris for Mexican Grand Prix FP1

Norris arguably entered Saturday on the back foot after a compromised Friday. He didn’t feature in FP1 as McLaren gave Pato O’Ward a run in front of his home crowd.

Commercial interests may have been at play in that decision, as well as the requirement that teams field a young driver in each of their cars at least twice during the season. But Peter Windsor feels Oscar Piastri should have made way instead.

Yes, they’d need to bench Norris at some point anyway, but the timing is still curious. FP2 was abnormal in Mexico as Pirelli carried out a 2025 tyre test, affording the Englishman very little time to drive his car on this year’s rubber.

McLaren have also introduced a new floor for this weekend’s race, but only on Norris’ car. His data-gathering potential was limited.

“Lando Norris sat out FP1, which again I thought was rather a strange call,” Windsor said. “Here is the guy most likely to challenge Max Verstappen for the drivers’ world championship.

“You’d imagine McLaren want to give him as much seat time as possible, particularly as it turned out the McLaren wasn’t very good in FP1. It didn’t feel very good to Oscar Piastri.

“They could have benefited of course from having Lando in the car there. Again, if you’re going to put anybody to one side, you would imagine that it would be Oscar for FP1.”

Martin Brundle says Lando Norris ‘needs to stop’ doing one thing in fight with Max Verstappen

F1 pundits have called for Norris to change his approach in his battle with Verstappen. They will likely battle on track again multiple times before the season is over.

Martin Brundle told Norris to stop giving up the inside, because it lays out a ‘welcome mat’ for his rival. The Sky Sports man said Verstappen doesn’t need a ‘first invitation’, let alone a second.

Likewise, David Coulthard urged Norris to be more aggressive at the start of races. He wants his fellow Briton to show his competitors down the outside ‘for a change’.

Verstappen’s tactics in his US GP scrap with Norris have generated disagreement within the paddock. F1 drivers held an unusually long briefing on Friday evening in Mexico as they debated the penalty handed out at the end of the race.