Toto Wolff saw a sign of how the 2025 F1 title fight is affecting Lando Norris at United States GP

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Lando Norris left the 2025 United States Grand Prix just 14 points behind his McLaren teammate and F1 title rival Oscar Piastri with only five rounds still to play this season.

The papaya pals have exclusively led the F1 drivers’ standings between them throughout the campaign. Norris topped the table through the first four rounds, before Piastri took over and has led the way since round 5/24 in his efforts to be Australia’s first F1 champion since 1980.

Piastri’s lead atop the standings has fluctuated from as low as three points after round eight to as high as 34 points after round 15. Norris’ retirement from the Dutch Grand Prix resulted in his largest deficit to date, but the Briton outscored Piastri in each of the four rounds since.

McLaren might have even seen the margin between their two drivers fall further if it were not for Piastri crashing into Norris at the start of the Sprint at COTA on Saturday. Their crash cost both drivers points in the Sprint, plus data for their set-ups for the United States Grand Prix.

Toto Wolff saw Lando Norris second-guessing his overtakes in the United States Grand Prix

Norris led McLaren’s quest in each session at the United States GP, as he set the pace in FP1 before qualifying P2 for the Sprint ahead of Piastri in P3. But Norris tucked himself in behind Red Bull’s Max Verstappen at the start of the Sprint, which invited Piastri to try a switchback.

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

While Piastri only qualified P6 for the United States GP, Norris achieved P2 on the grid again. But Charles Leclerc started the race with the soft C4 Pirelli tyres to Norris’ medium C3 tyres, which saw the Ferrari driver jump off the line and run around the Briton’s outside at Turn 1.

Norris eventually overtook Leclerc for P2 in the United States GP with the aid of DRS on Lap 51 of 56. And Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff thinks Norris took until Lap 51 to attempt an aggressive move as he is second-guessing his overtakes to avoid losing points to Piastri.

Wolff said, via quotes by Motorsport.com: “I think that affects the driving. How aggressive can you actually go for an overtake? Maybe you can see with Lando today. He’s done it at the end, but it was tricky at times to decide whether you put your nose in or not.”

Lando Norris could not afford to make contact with Charles Leclerc amid Max Verstappen’s title threat

Norris has steadily reduced his deficit to McLaren teammate Piastri for the lead in the 2025 F1 drivers’ standings from 34 points to 14 since a reliability problem made the Briton retire from the Dutch GP. The 18 points he lost that day would put Norris atop the standings now.

But Norris knew that he could not risk making contact with Leclerc during the United States GP in his bid to reclaim second place last Sunday, with only five Grands Prix and two Sprints left this season. Norris especially could not give up points with Verstappen back in the fight.

Verstappen won the COTA Sprint and United States GP last weekend, to outscore Norris and Piastri for the fourth round in a row. The Red Bull star now trails Piastri by only 40 points and Norris by 26, having faced deficits of 104 and 70 points to the pair after August’s Dutch GP.