Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris told which mistake will cost them the F1 title

The F1 title battle between McLaren duo Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris has been analysed by Alex Brundle.

Piastri and Norris are in a two-way, intra-team duel for world championship honours this season in their respective bids for a maiden drivers’ crown.

The fight has been too close to call, with Piastri currently holding a slender nine-point advantage over Norris with six victories to the Briton’s five.

However, momentum is currently on Norris’s side after winning three of the last four races prior to F1’s summer break.

Speaking on The Red Flags Podcast, racing driver Brundle, the son of F1 commentator and former grand prix driver Martin, described this year’s title race as a “battle of psychology” between the McLaren drivers. 

“A battle in terms of psychology, just between the two of them,” Brundle said.

“At the beginning of the season I thought it was going to be a battle that plays out in Lando’s ability to deliver what I thought at the start of the year, less so now, was naturally better paced than Piastri, but could he execute that? They’ve got pace parity now.

“Which one of them can handle the pressure throughout the year. I assumed at the beginning of the year that that person was going to be Piastri. It was a slam dunk, you could see the character of the two drivers and Oscar Piastri, when you heard from him and watched him, looked so much calmer.

“Then you see weekends like Monaco, where Lando is under pressure, everybody is talking about his mentality. He just turns up and is lighting with no mistakes all weekend. And all of a sudden you think ‘oh okay, right, so this one is going to run the full year’.

“Lando can, if he finds the right mode, handle that pressure and deliver all of that pace. McLaren have also found him something in the front steering, it gives him a bit of a better feel of the car for those front-limited circuits he doesn’t like.

“It’s going to go to the wire. The last test, and it’s a psychological test, is what happens in the big finale I believe we’re going to get between the two of them. That’s another mind state.

“The Abu Dhabi, final race, off the line stuff is where the being under pressure turns into a ‘win or lose today’ and that’s going to be the fascinating part of the second half of the season.”

Which error will cost Piastri and Norris the F1 title?

Brundle identified a mistake which could conclusively decide the drivers' championship.

“If one of those drivers DNFS at any point it’s over, in my view, for that driver. Because the other one will win, it’s then 25 points you can’t [get back]," he said.

“I really assumed that with four or five races to go, something bizarre would have happened. They would have got a puncture, or a backmarker turns in on them, or they go off in the rain at Spa, something like that. But it’s just not been there.

“I think it goes down to the wire and then Piastri wins in the final race. But again, it’s a punt. It’s based on what they eat for breakfast that morning and how it affects their psychology.”