Analysis: Oscar Piastri "not concerned" by shrinking F1 lead, but should he be?

McLaren driver Oscar Piastri insists he is “not concerned at all” by Lando Norris homing in on his points advantage in recent Formula 1 races.

Although Piastri’s form in the early part of the year had made him the outright favourite for the 2025 F1 title, Norris has pulled back some ground in the championship with three victories in the last four rounds.

Sunday’s success in the Hungarian Grand Prix has brought Norris just nine points behind Piastri heading into the summer break, a marked turnaround from the 22-point gap deficit he faced followed his crash in Canada in mid-June.

However, Piastri believes the reduced points gap is merely reflective of the way the championship fight is ebbing and flowing between him and Norris, rather than a clear trend that he is losing control of the title fight.

“The biggest lead of the year has been 23, and it's not moved within 10 points for the last ten races almost. So, I'm not really that fussed with that,” he said.

“Obviously, it would have been nice to have the extra points, but I don't think it's necessarily a trend.

“One second different, and the trend would have looked quite different today. Things happening in the last few races differently could have meant quite a different picture. But you can say that about pretty much every race this year and about every championship ever. So, I'm not concerned at all.

“I think the pace for the first half of the year has been very, very strong, and I think the last few races as well have been very good. I feel like I've driven a lot of strong races, and it's been very tightly fought. So, I expect more of the same after the break.”

How the points gap between Piastri and Norris has fluctuated this year

Oscar Piastri not expecting McLaren walkaway in second half

The Hungarian GP marked McLaren’s 11th victory from the first 14 races of the year, with the MCL39 having proven incredibly dominant on a wide variety of tracks.

However, Piastri doesn’t think he and Norris will be the only ones fighting for victories after the summer break, as he denied suggestions that McLaren will remain unchallenged in the second half of the year.

“I hope the same thing [that McLaren will dominate], but I think we will have competition at certain points through the year,” he said. 

“I don't know what happened to Charles [Leclerc] in the second half of the race, but clearly something happened because he looked quite quick for the first half. 

“So, I think there are some tracks that other teams have historically been quite quick at, and we'll wait and see if that's the same this year.”