Lando Norris has been uncharacteristically clumsy to start the 2025 Formula 1 season and is no longer in the lead of the drivers’ championship.
Not to say that his McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri has been faultless either, but he has shown more consistency and speed at every event.
Norris crashed in qualifying at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix and it was the latest error in a string of mistakes which have left him 10 points behind in the drivers’ championship race.
In what has been a dominant car, he would have hoped to put his advantage to better use ahead of the 2026 F1 regulations. Who knows how long they will be at the front for?
Piastri has been warned of a Norris advantage heading into the upcoming Miami Grand Prix, which will see the Brit return to the site of his first victory one year later.
Both Norris and Max Verstappen could face a big problem with rule changes aimed at front wing flexibility set to affect their ability to set their cars up in high speed. They have three races before they are implemented in Barcelona.
READ MORE: McLaren see clear advantage that will ‘pay off’ for Lando Norris over Oscar Piastri in 2025 F1 title fight
Lando Norris needs to fix ‘really broken’ mistakes to challenge for the 2025 F1 title
By allowing mistakes to creep in this year, Norris is handing his teammate a further advantage over the speed he has gained over the winter.
He must find a way of putting pressure back on the other side of the garage. Piastri has said he won’t make the same mistake and be negative about the McLaren car.
By allowing negativity to creep in, it’s going to become far harder to limit more mistakes. It’s going to take energy away from his effort to be fast.
Jeroen Bleekemolen believes that the mistakes he has made so far in 2025 have already had a big effect on him.
“I think that he is in such a phase that everything is starting to go now and I would have also put Norris at the top, but he is really broken in the mistakes that he made,” he said.
“They both [Piastri and Norris have] made too many mistakes compared to Verstappen.”
READ MORE: Karun Chandhok shares why Oscar Piastri was ‘surprised’ by Max Verstappen during the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix
Why is Lando Norris making mistakes in the 2025 Formula 1 title fight?
Last year, although Norris failed to capitalise on multiple situations where he should have won races, this year his problems tend to arise on a Saturday.
When the pressure is almost at its highest and he needs to pull a lap out of the bag, he has failed in races at Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and China.
It’s a complete contrast to how he started the Formula 1 season in promising fashion in Melbourne, by taking pole and the victory.
Since then, he has looked unconvincing, and to some extent, Piastri looked quicker at the first race of the campaign too.
Whether something on the car changed over the winter or Piastri has found that much pace, a solution must be found soon, or Norris’ chances could be a write-off by the summer break.
