Lando Norris has two ‘damaging’ driving traits that make him struggle more than Oscar Piastri with 2025 McLaren

Lando Norris is hopeful of taking his first Formula 1 Drivers’ Championship in 2025, after a strong start to the season for McLaren.

The Briton has taken advantage of the inroads made by McLaren during the winter break, having won the opening round in Melbourne and finished second to teammate Oscar Piastri in China.

Although Norris beat Piastri in Melbourne after the latter spun off in the wet conditions, he still faced a challenge midway through the race when the Australian appeared to save his save his tyres before their planned first pit stop onto dry tyres.

Norris noticeably struggled more in China, around a circuit which has a high tyre attrition rate. Where Piastri was able to find the sweet spot to exploit the most performance out of the MCL39 as the track conditions evolved, Norris could not reach the optimum tyre temperature.

Discussing this trait that has been seen over the last two Grands Prix on The Race YouTube channel, journalist Scott Mitchell-Malm believes this is down to an inherent driving trait Norris has over Piastri.

Lando Norris’ driving style stresses his tyres more than Oscar Piastri

Norris has shown that he has the ability to challenge defending champion Max Verstappen last season, but that dynamic is completely different when you are in the same car as your teammate.

It’s now all about finding the extra tenths of performance and there could be two main traits to Norris’ driving style that are holding him back, as he aims to improve on his form from 2024.

“There are two distinct things and they relate to his driving style and the way he wants to load a car with speed on entry, then roll the car through the corner, which stresses the tyres more. It’s the ‘U-shape’ versus the ‘V-shape’ or a corner. There are two things this stresses: the behaviour of the car and the behaviour of the tyres,” said Mitchell-Malm.

“In China, that was a front-limited circuit and asks a lot from the front tyres, particularly the front left. In the past Norris has admitted he struggled with graining, Las Vegas was another one, because he’s using the tyres more aggressively. So there is a natural driving style element that means he is harder on his tyres than Piastri, which causes a weakness over a lap but over a race stint it’s particularly damaging.”

Oscar Piastri tipped to beat title favourite Lando Norris by former F1 driver

There is no doubt that McLaren head into the rest of the season as favourites for both titles, especially given their strong start to the season.

Norris has been coy on his title ambitions, but his victory in Australia is a clear sign that he can continue his dominant form that we saw shades of last year at races such as Abu Dhabi and Singapore.

However, Juan Pablo Montoya believes Piastri is in a better position to win the title than Norris, given how much more calculated a driver he can be and calm in certain situations.

Norris made a lot of unforced errors last year and these driving traits that impact his 2025 McLaren could yield even more errors at critical points if he is unable to address them.