Lando Norris should be 'scared' in F1 title battle

McLaren

Lando Norris should be 'scared' in F1 title battle

McLaren team-mates Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri are embroiled in a championship battle

Kerry Violet F1 News Editor

F1 editor and journalist covering motorsport since 2024.

Wednesday 20 August 2025 09:57 Updated: 10:22

McLaren F1 star Lando Norris is yet to achieve his maiden championship victory in the pinnacle of motorsport.

Though it may have felt like he came close to having the drivers' title within his reach last season, 2025 is the first real opportunity the Brit has had to clinch his first championship win.

Yet one man stands in his way. Papaya team-mate Oscar Piastri, who, after 14 rounds, leads the championship just 9 points ahead of Norris.

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The task may seem easy, but as the 2025 season continues its summer break, 2016 champion and Sky F1 pundit Nico Rosberg believes the fight will be a close one, but Piastri still holds a 'scary' advantage over his team-mate in their title race.

Speaking on The F1 Show, Rosberg declared: "Oscar is super strong.

"He's surprised me because we all knew he was a great driver, but last year, Lando still had the edge.

"This year, Oscar is just incredibly solid and strong and fast.

"There's no weaknesses there. What's his weakness? There's no more weaknesses, which is a bit scary for Lando because Lando does have weaknesses."

Will Piastri's cold approach to the 2025 title battle trump Norris?

No room for Norris errors in McLaren battle

Rosberg is right. Even as recently as the Belgian Grand Prix, Norris slipped up multiple times when attempting to steal the lead off his team-mate, with Piastri's seamless drive securing him yet another grand prix victory ahead of Norris.

In 2024 it was Norris who seemingly had the advantage, meaning he had the right in some regard to request team orders when his fight for his first championship against Verstappen was still alive.

This year however, McLaren have made it crystal clear they are going to stand by fair racing. No team orders, no No.1 driver, let the best man win.

And Rosberg worries that Norris simply doesn't have the edge over Piastri, especially when it comes to the mental strength required to fight for your first title.

"You can't really say that Lando is a smidge quicker anymore. At some point we need to stop saying that because there's no basis to that anymore.

"Oscar has just been extremely quick always, and I see them kind of on a par.

"The championship is going to be decided in Lando's head. That's my kind of impression unfortunately. It's how solid can Lando become?

"I know he's working on it, starting to block out social media, media, he's really making progress, all these things, which is really great," Rosberg concluded.

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F1 McLaren Lando Norris Oscar Piastri Nico Rosberg