“Big difference” which is bad news for Lando Norris is pointed out

The key difference between the performances of McLaren’s two drivers has been spotted.

McLaren have possessed Formula 1’s fastest car for roughly the past year, charging past Red Bull to win the constructors’ championship last year and clinging onto it with an iron grip this year.

Oscar Piastri is also three points clear of teammate Lando Norris at the top of the F1 standings.

Max Verstappen trails the championship leader by 25 points and left last weekend’s F1 Spanish Grand Prix angrily implying he might not be able to challenge for the title.

But even Norris is often struggling to contend with Piastri, who has won five out of nine grands prix in 2025.

“His challenge is to find the weaknesses,” Julianne Cerasoli advised Norris about his teammate on the F1 Nation podcast.

“Because there were weaknesses in the past.

“The end of last year was important for Oscar because would always hear ‘you are always getting better’ but, at the end, he wasn’t happy.

“He had to dig deep in the winter break to understand what he was doing wrong, especially in race pace.

“Lando is very good with race pace so Oscar is learning quicker.

“It is hard, at the moment, to find weaknesses.

“Wheel-to-wheel, he is good. Qualifying, he is good. He’s always calm, always settled, he finds solutions.

“It is hard for Lando.”

Lando Norris urged to improve F1 qualifying

Jesús Balseiro recalled: “Remember the same place a year ago, Lando was on pole but he lost the first corner.

“He lost a race which could have been McLaren’s. We thought the Red Bull was still the dominant car but later we learned that it wasn’t.

“Oscar doesn’t give any room, he is flawless weekend after weekend.

“Maybe that’s the big difference between him and Lando.
“Lando used to make enough mistakes to leave the door open to Max.

“So far, with Oscar, we find a flawless driver.”

Cerasoli pointed out: “Lando needs to up his game in qualifying.

“If he qualifies first, engineers tell us that being in free air gives you three tenths.

“Three tenths against his teammate means he will win the race.

“He needs to qualify better. Then he doesn’t have to play any other games.”

Norris qualified on pole position at the F1 Monaco Grand Prix and duly converted it into a race win.

In Spain, last weekend, he bemoaned errors which cost him in qualifying.

McLaren have racked up three 1-2 finishes this season already.

Even amid the flexi-wing clampdown in Spain, Norris noted it changed nothing.

The challenge for McLaren may be how to appease both drivers in a title battle.

Andrea Stella insists their pre-race debriefs have not changed despite their drivers both sitting first and second in the standings.