Oscar Piastri thinks one thing he has changed in the 2025 F1 season has ‘obviously’ been ‘very worthwhile’ for him, and has also come at the expense of Lando Norris.
The McLaren drivers sit atop the F1 championship standings ahead of this Sunday’s Monaco Grand Prix in round eight of a record-equalling 24. Piastri with 146 points and Norris on 133 also hand their crew a 133-point lead against Mercedes as they bid to retain the teams’ title.
Norris and Piastri won McLaren their first constructors’ championship since 1998 last season and are now chasing their first drivers’ title since 2008 this year. Lewis Hamilton still remains the last driver to win an F1 title at McLaren, who last won back-to-back teams’ titles in 1991.
Oscar Piastri hints he’s made Lando Norris’ life more ‘difficult’ in qualifying in 2025
It was widely suggested that Norris was the pre-season 2025 F1 title favourite having got the better of Piastri over their first two seasons as teammates and McLaren’s MCL39 emerging as the best car on the grid. Yet the Briton has so far struggled to fulfil those big expectations.
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Norris comprehensively beat Piastri 15-7 and 20-4 in their qualifying head-to-heads in 2023 and 2024, yet the Australian leads 4-3 in 2025. Piastri even feels his life is now less ‘difficult’ than particularly last season, having flipped the fine margins that separated him and Norris.
He told the BBC: “I think last year what was hampering me was my qualifying performances, which I think ultimately came down to a slight lack of pace overall. And going about trying to find that pace has definitely been a challenging exercise, but I think obviously a very worthwhile one, clearly.
“It’s not been one thing in particular that was the problem. It’s been trying to just find the last couple of hundredths in every category you can, and they all add up by the end of the day. Because whilst I’ve had a few more poles now and qualifying has generally been a lot better, the gaps have still been incredibly, incredibly tight.
“It’s just that instead of being on the wrong side of those tight gaps, I’m now seemingly a bit more on the right side of those gaps. So, that’s really where I think my season’s come alive a bit more this year, and maybe not made life as difficult as last season.”
Oscar Piastri has overturned Lando Norris’ commanding qualifying advantage at McLaren
Piastri has led McLaren’s qualifying efforts so far in 2025 in China, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and Imola. Norris, on the other hand, was the fastest McLaren driver in qualifying for the Grands Prix in Australia, Japan and Miami. Piastri has also scored three pole positions to Norris’ one.
READ MORE: McLaren driver Lando Norris’ life outside F1 from parents to celebration
| Position | Drivers’ Championship | Points |
| 1 |
Oscar Piastri |
146 |
| 2 |
Lando Norris |
133 |
| 3 |
Max Verstappen |
124 |
| 4 |
George Russell |
99 |
| 5 |
Charles Leclerc |
61 |
| 6 |
Lewis Hamilton |
53 |
| 7 |
Andrea Kimi Antonelli |
48 |
Sprint Qualifying has also gone the Australian’s way so far in 2025 with Piastri beating Norris 2-0 after the Sprints in China and Miami. The 24-year-old has even qualified in the top three for every Grand Prix bar in Japan (P3) and Miami (P4), for an average starting position of P2.
Norris has on average started the first seven Grands Prix of the 2025 season from P4 on the grid, having qualified P6 in Bahrain before Piastri won from pole plus P10 in Saudi Arabia as his teammate won from P2. He has also only out-qualified Piastri once in the last four races.
Also, Norris called himself ‘clueless’ after qualifying P6 for the Bahrain GP, which he finished in P3 just behind George Russell. McLaren driver Norris crashed in qualifying in Saudi Arabia trying to match Piastri, too, as he lost control on the Turn 4 exit kerb after missing the apex.
