Fastest car? Yes. Title favorite tag? Yes. Championship lead? Lost after five races. That’s how the 2025 campaign has unfolded for Lando Norris so far. Despite winning the Australian GP in convincing fashion, the British driver has lost a lot of steam in his pursuit of his maiden world championship.
In fact, it’s his McLaren teammate, Oscar Piastri, who has taken control of the title battle after what was a miserable outing for the Australian in his home race in Melbourne, finishing ninth after going off track in the rain. After that gut-wrenching loss Down Under, Piastri has grown from strength to strength and won three out of the last four Grands Prix.
Even Norris‘ 2024 title rival, Max Verstappen, has kept himself in contention to defend his crown despite having another sub-par Red Bull car underneath him. The Dutchman is only 12 points behind championship leader Piastri and two points behind second-placed Norris.
So, how has this situation arisen for the British driver, who was supposed to be McLaren’s ‘lead driver’ and cruise to the 2025 title, courtesy of McLaren’s strongest package? ESPN’s Laurence Edmondson explained that Piastri‘s performances have improved massively and are not receiving the kind of limelight they deserve.
Edmondson revealed how the Aussie has outscored Norris by 33 points in the past four race weekends after the season opener in Australia. Yes, the #4 driver, who had been hyped up as the title favorite by almost every presenter, pundit, and commentator in the F1 community, has been comfortably outperformed by Piastri.
In fact, Edmondson was astounded at this statistic even after the contrasting results for Norris and Piastri in Australia. “If you take away Australia, which was a race where Oscar Piastri immediately went 23 points behind Lando. You take that way, since then Oscar Piastri has outscored Lando Norris by 33 points.”
Imagine how dominant Piastri’s position in the drivers’ standings would’ve been right now if he had finished second right behind Norris in Australia, or perhaps even won that Grand Prix, given he seemed like the faster driver out of the two.
Nevertheless, Norris needs to pull up his socks as soon as possible if he wants to keep his title hopes alive. Edmondson said, “It is very much on Lando to start performing on a better level.” When asked if this title battle between the McLaren drivers could be one for the ages, he said, “Right now, it’s actually looking quite one-sided”.
“Right now, if he [Norris] continues with the way he is driving, obviously, he’s not gonna win a championship.”
And with Verstappen right behind the McLaren duo, it won’t be a cakewalk for the Briton to overcome his teammate’s challenge. As the Dutchman is constantly hassling them for wins and podiums, they cannot afford to make any mistakes. Piastri certainly understands that and is performing on a very high level with two poles and three wins so far.
First driver to win back-to-back races this season – and the first time Piastri has won back-to-back races in his #F1 career pic.twitter.com/A80Ju4d2F5
— The Race (@wearetherace) April 20, 2025
This early season success for the Melbourne-born driver could prove crucial for the championship battle later in the year. The way Verstappen was able to build a points gap with seven race wins in the first 10 rounds of the 2024 season, Piastri can also build a similar kind of cushion, considering the kind of form the Australian has been on.
If Piastri can do so, he’ll put Norris in a similar situation to last year, where the Briton had a steep challenge of chasing the championship lead against Verstappen. And given that the Briton could not even get close to the Dutchman, Piastri would be fancying his chances of securing his maiden world title on the back of this early-season lead.
