Lando Norris told he’s facing one McLaren F1 car ‘problem’ in 2025 that’s unlikely to have a ‘quick fix’

McLaren driver Lando Norris managed to make a small dent in Oscar Piastri’s championship lead at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.

The start of the season has been kind to McLaren, and their advantage in the constructors’ championship after seven race weekends is impressive.

Lando Norris started the year in the best possible way, winning the Australian Grand Prix in incredibly tough circumstances.

It gave him a 23-point advantage over teammate Oscar Piastri after his costly error during the final rainstorm of the race, but since then, the Australian has dominated the season.

Piastri has won more Grand Prix than every other driver combined in 2025, although he got unstuck at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix going into the first corner.

Max Verstappen forced Piastri into an error with an audacious move around the outside, and this forced the 24-year-old onto a strategy that eventually saw him lose out to Norris in the closing stages.

While that will be seen as a positive by the Brit, he’s still looking uncomfortable in the quickest car on the grid which will be a concern for Andrea Stella and Zak Brown.

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McLaren unlikely to have a ‘quick fix’ to Lando Norris’ car issues

Journalist Edd Straw was asked on The Race F1 Podcast where he feels Norris can move forward if he’s currently at his peak and replied: “Well, ultimately, he is good around Imola, he’s good around a lot of tracks.

“But, fundamentally, it’s still the same problem with the car. I think that was probably exacerbated as well in qualifying because the C6 tyre, because it was a softer tyre than was conceived for a track like this, it wasn’t ever planned to be used.

“It meant the car was moving around a lot more, and not great for confidence and that probably wouldn’t have helped when he’s struggling a little bit.

“But also that numbness they talked about in the front end, so, this for me is the storyline with Lando Norris at the moment.

“It’s, how localised or not, are his pace struggles at the moment?

“The longer it goes on the more of a concern it is. I don’t think it’s just, ‘He’s good at Imola, this is his peak, has Piastri moved far and away beyond him,’ we may be starting to see that perhaps.

“I don’t see there being a quick fix to this but McLaren are trying to do it and it could be a small change, gets the feel and then Lando Norris is back to his best.

“Could be that this is his best and Piastri has transcended him, but it’s still a live issue for me, brilliant as Piastri has been.”

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Jacques Villeneuve critical of Lando Norris despite outperforming Oscar Piastri

Norris had a strong race in Imola and his move on Piastri to take second showed that he can pull off daring overtaking moves when required.

Verstappen has had the upper hand on Norris in wheel-to-wheel action, but McLaren will just be glad they didn’t take each other out going into the first corner.

The 25-year-old has made it clear throughout the season that even when he’s been the fastest driver on track, he’s not always been perfectly happy with his car.

Jacques Villeneuve was critical of Norris in Imola, believing that he still needs to handle the pressure better at crucial moments.

While that may be true, if he’s not completely comfortable in his car, then he’s much more likely to make mistakes than Piastri.