Sky F1 pundit Martin Brundle believes Lando Norris has been struggling with the “very clever” new front suspension on the McLaren MCL39 in the early weeks of the F1 2025 season.

And he fears the “writing is on the wall” for Norris with Oscar Piastri leading almost twice as many laps as his team-mate across the first four races.

Martin Brundle: New McLaren MCL39 suspension has hurt Lando Norris’s feel

Piastri has emerged as the new favourite for the F1 2025 title after two impressive victories in China and Bahrain in recent weeks, cutting Norris’s lead in the Drivers’ Championship to three points entering this weekend’s Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.

Speaking to media including PlanetF1.com in Bahrain last weekend, Norris admitted that “something’s just not clicking” with McLaren’s F1 2025 car and that he “never felt comfortable” with the car even during his victorious start to the new season in Australia last month.

Lando Norris vs Oscar Piastri: McLaren head-to-head scores for F1 2025

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Norris went on to conceded that he is performing “nowhere near” close to his best as a result of his struggles, with the 25-year-old claiming to have no “answer” to his woes.

PlanetF1.com’s tech editor Matt Somerfield revealed last month that McLaren introduced a key change to their front suspension for F1 2025, with the steering arm moved forward compared to its predecessor.

Appearing on Sky F1’s television coverage on Friday in Saudi Arabia, Brundle claimed that the suspension change has taken away Norris’s “feel” for the front of the car, with the Australian Grand Prix winner struggling to drive around the issue.

He said: “The car is fast.

“It’s probably a tenth faster than anybody else in the field. That’s only the margin we’re talking about.

“But it’s got a very clever front suspension system on it that is very aerodynamic.

“That’s the primary purpose for quite an extreme design and geometry and I think it’s taken away a little bit of steering feel as an improvement overall.

“I think Lando is struggling with a little bit less feedback, struggling to drive around it.

“And I think he just chooses to [respond negatively]. That’s how he rock and rolls. We’re all different, thank goodness.

“But he seems to need to give himself that pain of [saying]: ‘The car is not quite right.’

“The problem is that feeds his rivals. That feeds Max [Verstappen], it feeds George [Russell]and particularly it feeds Oscar when you hear somebody showing a vulnerability.”

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Piastri sits three points behind Norris despite a ninth-place finish in Australia, where a spin in the wet left him at the rear of the field.

Brundle feels the fact that Piastri has led almost double the amount of laps as Norris has so far this season is ominous, yet he insisted that Norris remains “pretty unbeatable” when operating at his best.

Asked his important it was for Piastri to assert himself in Bahrain, he said: “Very important.

“He was really in a class of one through that event and he was just so confident.

“Whether it was pole or whether it was the Safety Car restart, he had it covered in every way.

“When you think he’s led 107 laps this year compared to Lando’s 56 laps, the writing’s on the wall in terms of just how well Oscar’s going.

“I think there are equal number ones. They’ve got matching talent.

“I think if Lando brings his A-game to every grand prix and he gets out in front I think he’s pretty unbeatable.

“There’s a lot of ‘ifs’ in there.”

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