Jamie Chadwick stunned by what those close to Lando Norris aren’t telling him, ‘that’s only going to get worse’

Lando Norris leads the F1 drivers’ standings by three points, yet has bewildered Jamie Chadwick with claims the McLaren driver made ahead of the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.

The 25-year-old arrived in Jeddah following his worst performance of the 2025 F1 season so far in Bahrain last week. Norris continued his 100% run of finishing a Grand Prix this term on the podium in Sakhir, but could not match the speed of his McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri.

Norris was 0.426 seconds off Piastri’s pace in qualifying to only secure P6 on the Bahrain GP grid whilst the Australian sealed pole. The Briton would further only come third in the race as Piastri won, despite Norris having chances to overtake Mercedes star George Russell for P2.

Jamie Chadwick warns Lando Norris it will ‘only get worse’ if the McLaren driver keeps beating himself up

Piastri has even moved from trailing Norris by 20 points after the Australian Grand Prix to be three points from leading the F1 drivers’ standings a mere three rounds later. Team principal Andrea Stella feels Norris finds McLaren’s 2025 car more difficult than their car in 2024, too.

His issues especially in qualifying at the Bahrain GP saw Norris beat himself up and note that he was ‘clueless’ and that the Bristol-born pilot was ‘just not comfortable’ despite McLaren’s car being ‘amazing’. Yet Chadwick cannot understand why Norris is being so hard on himself.

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

Three-time W Series champion Chadwick even questions why those who are close to Norris are not reminding the McLaren ace that he has a great chance to win his first Formula 1 title this year. She also fears it will only ‘get worse’ for Norris if he keeps being overly self-critical.

Chadwick said on Sky Sports F1 (18/4, 14:06): “I don’t think there’s right or wrong, definitely not. As a sports person, you can be yourself. You can be the best version of yourself possible. But, in this instance, I just don’t know why Lando feels like that.

“I feel like he’s got a great car, he’s a great driver [and] he’s got a great opportunity to win a world championship. Why isn’t everyone around him telling him that? And why isn’t he telling himself that?

“OK, we all make mistakes, but it’s this constancy of beating himself up every time that’s only going to get worse.”

Lando Norris lost 20 points to Oscar Piastri in three rounds before the Saudi Arabian GP

Norris started the 2025 F1 season in the best way possible by beating Piastri to pole position at the Australian GP and converting it into the victory. Yet he failed to offer a threat to Piastri at the Chinese Grand Prix or the Bahrain Grand Prix and was arguably second-best in Japan.

Piastri begged McLaren to swap his position with Norris in Japan, as he spent the Grand Prix chasing the Briton’s tail just behind Red Bull’s Max Verstappen. The Australian then smashed it out of the park in Bahrain with pole and the win to leave McLaren having second thoughts.

How the Bahrain GP unfolded last weekend has seen McLaren change their stance on Norris being their favourite to lead Piastri after learning from fighting Verstappen in 2024. Woking chiefs expected the Briton to be their leader, yet has lost 20 points to Piastri since Australia.

Also, his cheap five-second penalty for a false start in Bahrain left Jolyon Palmer to think that Norris is second-guessing himself if not at the front of the field. There were even other signs of that in Bahrain when Norris tried to overtake Charles Leclerc, Lewis Hamilton and Russell.