Lando Norris believed to no longer be “the man” in McLaren as per F1 veteran

Lando Norris came into the 2025 season as the favourite to challenge Max Verstappen for the driver's championship. The MCL39 has dominated the season so far, but mostly in the hands of Norris' teammate, Oscar Piastri. Former F1 driver Ralf Schumacher recently came out and revealed why he believes that the Briton is no longer the No.1 driver at the Papaya team.

Lando Norris began the 2025 season with a win in the Australian GP while his teammate only managed to finish P9 after a spin in the tricky wet conditions. However, since then, Oscar Piastri has made a strong comeback and won 5 of the last nine races, whereas Norris has only managed to win one race.

The Australian driver overturned the deficit to Norris after the season opener into an advantage and currently leads the driver's title with a 22-point gap to his teammate in P2. The gap was just 10 points coming into the 2025 Canadian GP, but the Briton’s retirement ensured that it was increased.

F1 Grand Prix of Canada - Source: Getty

Following Lando Norris’ mess up at the Canadian GP, where he failed to put in a competitive lap during both his Q3 runs and the collision with Oscar Piastri towards the end of the race, F1 veteran Ralf Schumacher came out and detailed why Norris is no longer the No.1 driver at McLaren. He said,

“I believe that it is now internally decided that Piastri is the man the team will focus on in terms of the World Championship. Lando shows too many weaknesses and makes too many mistakes, including his senseless driving into the back of Oscar in Canada. He has apologised and that shows what a great person he is. But it’s no use, because great people rarely win titles.” via Sky Deutschland.

When Ralf Schumacher points out the ‘overtaking’ flaw in Lando Norris’ driving

Max Verstappen and Lando Norris began on the front row at the 2025 Miami GP. As the two went side by side for the first few corners, Norris eventually ran wide and gave up multiple positions and ended up in P6. Ralf Schumacher came out and pointed out the overtaking flaw in Norris’ skillset, as he said,

“Norris simply lacks that, and he won’t learn it. He’s missing the basics of overtaking. You actually learn that in karts, so he should be able to do it. He also took too long to get to the front at times. That’s a problem, quite honestly. And that’s not how he’ll become world champion.”

The same was also highlighted at the Canadian GP, where Norris' misjudgment in overtaking Piastri led to a crash. Nonetheless, Norris instantly took the blame for it and apologised to his team and his teammate for the same.

Edited by pranavsethii