“Didn’t help himself”: McLaren boss highlights Lando Norris’ weakness in Belgium GP 

Lando Norris started on pole position for the Belgian GP but trailed Oscar Piastri for the majority of the race, despite trying to chase his teammate down in the final phase of the race. His failed attempts at retaking the lead led McLaren team principal Andrea Stella to point out the Briton's errors during the Grand Prix being the key factor in his failure.

Piastri had bagged the pole position for the Sprint race, and despite being outdragged by Max Verstappen in the 15-lap race, he was able to gain a solitary point over Norris. But a larger chunk of points is awarded during the Grand Prix on Sunday, for which the 25-year-old was slated to start the race from the front seat.

Even with the rain delay and a rolling start taking place, Norris's race start had been filled with oversteer-ey moments, which compromised his exit towards the Eau Rouge-Raidillion section, allowing Piastri to hunt him down. Despite this, he was presented with an opportunity with the tire delta to regain control of the race later in the event and had to climb a nine-second delta to his teammate.

But, his off-track excursion at Pouhon on lap 26 and the two front tire lockups on lap 33 and 43, cost him around 3 seconds. With Lando Norris finishing a mere 3.4 seconds behind Oscar Piastri, these errors, which earlier seemed insignificant, made up the difference between the two.

Reflecting on the Briton's continuous flaws, Stella asserted how Norris didn't make it easy for himself in his chase for Piastri, and said (via GPBlog):

"I think the difference will be made by the accuracy, the precision, the quality of the execution... It would have always been very difficult for Lando to keep the position starting first at the safety restart. "At the same time I think Lando didn't help himself by not having a great gap on the finish line. Lando had a couple of lockups in corner one and also a little oversteer in corner nine that cost him time. I think this overall prevented us from having an interesting battle possibly at the end."

Meanwhile, with Piastri winning another race, he has stretched out his advantage in the championship standings to 16 points.

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Oscar Piastri talks about the move that sealed him the race win against Lando Norris

Oscar Piastri (L), Charles Leclerc, and Lando Norris (R) coming back from the podium celebrations at the 2025 F1 Grand Prix of Belgium - Source: Getty

Lando Norris arrived at the Belgian GP with two consecutive race victories, at race venues where Oscar Piastri seemingly flustered. Moreover, with the pole position in the bag for the Grand Prix and the Spa-Francorchamps not providing great opportunities for overtaking this year, many reckoned the Briton to have an easy time.

Despite a rolling start favouring Norris, Piastri was determined to get past his teammate as it was his sole opportunity to do so, as the Aussie said in the post-race press conference:

"I had a good run out of turn one and then tried to be as brave as I could through Eau Rouge and was able to stay pretty close... When I watched the onboard back, it didn't look quite as scary as it felt in the car. I knew that I had to be very committed to pull that off."

Lando Norris would hope to make a dent in Piastri's lead at the following round in Hungary to reduce his work for later when the paddock returns to racing after the summer break.

Edited by pranavsethii