'Not true' - F1 champion addresses Lando Norris speculation

Former F1 world champion Jacques Villeneuve has suggested that Lando Norris is more susceptible to criticism than he has been letting on.

Norris is currently embroiled in a world championship battle with his McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri, and sits 25 points behind the Australian with seven races remaining.

However, Norris had a huge opportunity to close that gap further at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, when Piastri crashed out of the race on lap one in what was a horror weekend for the championship leader.

Norris could only finish seventh himself though, and it was instead Max Verstappen who took advantage of McLaren's woes to put himself in with a faint chance of claiming a fifth consecutive world title.

British star Norris lost out to Verstappen in the 2024 title battle after making too many mistakes in the latter stages of that season, and now both McLaren drivers may be letting the Dutchman in once again in 2025.

"Norris said he doesn’t care what people say? That’s not true," Villeneuve confidently stated to OLBG. "There's not one driver, not one sportsman that says that. It's a way of trying to keep the pressure away. Everyone knows what's being written. Everyone gets affected even when you don't want it to. It’s somewhere at the back of your mind because it makes you think.

"So Lando says that to try and minimise it. You have to because you don't want it to affect you too much. Just saying that means it's affecting him. But the thing is, what were they expecting? They didn't go for a little bit of straight-line speed. So how can you overtake anyone?

"It was a very anonymous race by McLaren. Now we're talking about a driver, Piastri, that is fighting for the championship. That's not what you want. Team-wise, we're talking about a team that has won the second constructors' championship.

"But like last year, it doesn't seem that the driver's championship matters that much. They're really not focused on it, the way they approach the race weekends. That is disappointing."

McLaren's championship exploits

McLaren are likely to wrap up the constructors' championship next weekend in Singapore, where they only need to score 13 points to become champions for the second year in a row.

However, the team will be desperate to this year add the drivers' title to that too, having not had a McLaren driver win the championship since Lewis Hamilton in 2008.

Piastri and Norris have looked to be in a two-horse race for much of the season, but four-time champion Verstappen is now lurking behind the pair of them.

Verstappen is now just 69 points behind Piastri and 44 points behind Norris with seven grands prix and three sprint races remaining in the 2025 season.

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