Jacques Villeneuve thinks Lando Norris has ‘a problem’ Oscar Piastri doesn’t at McLaren, it will hurt him ‘first’

McLaren duo Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri are primed to fight for the 2025 Formula 1 drivers’ championship and Jacques Villeneuve has seen one weakness with the Briton.

The Woking crew have been the clear outfit to beat through the opening rounds of the 2025 season as McLaren bid to defend the F1 constructors’ championship. Norris and Piastri lifted their team’s first title since 1998 last year and may now retain it for the first time since 1991.

A first drivers’ title since Lewis Hamilton won his first in 2008 is also on the line for McLaren this year. Norris heads the F1 drivers’ championship after the first two rounds with an eight-point lead over champion Max Verstappen of Red Bull, with Piastri 10 points adrift in fourth.

Jacques Villeneuve thinks Lando Norris ‘destroys’ his tyres unlike McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri

Norris’ Australian Grand Prix win from pole position yielded the lead of the F1 championship for the first time in the 25-year-old’s career. But the Bristol-born driver would not double up in Shanghai, where Piastri converted his first F1 pole position to win the Chinese Grand Prix.

Tyre problems also plagued Norris in the Sprint and Grand Prix in China as he suffered with front graining. He could only qualify in P6 for the Sprint and finished it in P8 as Piastri came second. A brake issue nearly cost Norris P2 in the Chinese GP, too, after struggling to battle.

Villeneuve doubts Norris’ tyre problems will affect his hopes of winning the Japanese Grand Prix this week, given the differences between the Shanghai International Circuit and Suzuka. But the 1997 F1 champion does view it as a weakness that Piastri does not have at McLaren.

READ MORE: Every error that cost Lando Norris points in his failed 2024 F1 title challenge

“The difference between Piastri and Norris is Norris uses up his front tyres,” Villeneuve told Sky Sports Main Event (04/04, 4:02). “He destroys them, which was a problem in China.

“It was a very understeery track and he was limited. That’s not an issue here. So, maybe Norris will get the upper hand because of that.”

After Norris radioed McLaren to check if his front tyres had started to grain in FP1, to which they told him that Mercedes’ George Russell was also suffering with graining after four high-fuel laps, Villeneuve added (04:21): “Norris is the driver that will be the first to get graining.

“He eats up his front tyres. I don’t know if it’s because he has understeer in his car and he needs it as a set-up. But the lap times he’s been doing last year, he doesn’t seem to be an understeery driver. Maybe he just leans too heavily on his front end and chews up his tyres.”

Oscar Piastri will hope to punish Lando Norris’ tyre management amid their F1 title fight

Piastri will hope the 23-year-old being nicer to his Pirelli tyres on understeery tracks like the Shanghai International Circuit will pay dividends amidst his 2025 F1 title fight with McLaren teammate Norris. It certainly helped in China with Norris unable to shape a move on Piastri.

READ MORE: McLaren driver Oscar Piastri’s life outside F1 from height to girlfriend

Norris holds the lead of the championship thanks to Piastri’s Melbourne spin on dry tyres in the wet. The hometown hero fell to the back as he looked to take the lead of the Australian GP once McLaren lifted their team orders to hold station amid lapping the Haas teammates.

A 10-point margin can quickly disappear, though, and Norris admits he is ‘nervous’ about his ‘inevitable’ close fights with Piastri – a topic the Briton thinks he shares with the Australian. So, having an option to try alternative strategies by nursing the Pirelli tyres could prove key.