Lando Norris told ‘extremely important’ feat he must realise to win F1 title after Oscar Piastri ‘dominated’ in Bahrain

Lando Norris now leads the 2025 Formula 1 drivers’ championship by three points to Oscar Piastri after his McLaren teammate ‘dominated’ to win the Bahrain Grand Prix.

The papaya pals have won three of the opening four Grands Prix to start the 2025 F1 season between them to rise to the top of the standings. Piastri also only trails Norris to be the lead driver after spinning from second place in the Australian Grand Prix before recovering to P9.

Norris won the season-opener in Australia from pole position, to also take the lead of the F1 drivers’ standings for the first time in his career. But the Briton has since seen Piastri emerge as the more comfortable pilot in the McLaren MCL39 to win from pole in China plus Bahrain.

Piastri even put Norris under immense pressure over second place in Japan as the Australian hounded his teammate behind Red Bull’s race-winner Max Verstappen. But Davide Valsecchi feels Norris will beat Piastri to win the 2025 F1 title if the 25-year-old achieves only one feat.

Lando Norris will win the 2025 F1 title if he out-qualifies Oscar Piastri in 65% of the races

Valsecchi was hugely impressed as Piastri won the Bahrain GP from pole position on Sunday ahead of Mercedes’ George Russell and a recovering Norris in P3. The Briton endured a dire qualifying last Saturday to claim P6 and then also got a five-second penalty for a false start.

READ MORE: McLaren driver Lando Norris’ life outside F1 from parents to celebration

Yet despite the Bahrain GP also marking the third time this year that Piastri has out-qualified Norris – having even been McLaren’s lead driver for the Shanghai Sprint – the latter remains Valsecchi’s title-favourite if he can out-qualify the 24-year-old in 65% of this season’s races.

“I have this feeling,” Valsecchi has told the F1 Nation podcast. “Last year, Norris beat almost every time Piastri in qualifying. This year, Piastri is much closer.

“I had that feeling in Japan. In Japan last year, [Piastri] ended up 22 seconds behind Norris. This year, he was pushing him the last few laps and [McLaren] got scared.

“Now, we go to Bahrain. He knew the track very well because the lower categories race here. We had the winter test. This is going to be his weekend, that was my feeling. And at the end, Piastri dominated the weekend.

“Anyway, if Norris can at least beat Piastri 65% of the quali, is going to be a world champion. It’s extremely important for his side [to] be the quickest guy in the team.

“He doesn’t need to be the smartest [or] the cleverest, he needs to be the quickest. He needs to set pole position because it makes your life easier.”

Lando Norris dominated Oscar Piastri in 2024 but does not like McLaren’s 2025 car as much

Norris dominated the 2024 season F1 teammate head-to-head at McLaren as he beat Piastri for their points, Grand Prix results, qualifying, wins, pole positions, podiums and fastest laps plus Sprint qualifying, poles and podiums. Yet Piastri is delivering a bigger challenge in 2025.

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

His one-lap pace, in particular, is proving to be a big difference with McLaren sensing Piastri has ‘got that edge’ in qualifying whilst Norris is struggling more. The Australian would likely have out-qualified the Briton in Japan had Piastri not made as many mistakes on his Q3 lap.

Additionally, team principal Andrea Stella admits Norris finds McLaren’s car difficult to drive after changes they made over the winter. Piastri has so far been able to overcome the car’s characteristics a little easier – making his spin amid the late rain in Melbourne more painful.