Lando Norris won’t rely on “luck” to overturn F1 title deficit to Oscar Piastri

Lando Norris says he won’t rely on “luck” to overturn his deficit to Oscar Piastri in the race for this year’s F1 world championship.

Norris failed to finish the last race at Zandvoort after a chassis-related issue.

With Piastri winning the race, the gap between the pair is now 34 points with nine F1 rounds to go.

It was the first time that either McLaren driver has been hit with a terminal reliability in a grand prix.

The battle for the championship is so tight that it will likely prove decisive at the end of the season in Abu Dhabi.

Piastri hasn’t failed to finish a race since the 2023 United States Grand Prix.

Speaking ahead of this weekend’s event at Monza, Norris refused to get drawn into the “luck” debate.

He accepts that if he loses the title due to his DNF at Zandvoort then “that’s life”.

“I don’t look into luck and all these things,” Norris told reporters on Thursday.

“There’s no point. I don’t want to be wasting my time on hoping for it or praying for it.

“I was unlucky last weekend and that’s life. It happens. It might get to the end of the year and nothing else happens.

“If I lose the championship by the amount of points that I lost at the weekend [Zandvoort] then that’s tough, that’s life andI will move on. I will come back again next year and try to do better. I don’t wish for bad luck for anyone else. I was unlucky that weekend and this weekend I need to try to do better. I don’t believe in those kinds of things.”

Norris won’t change approach

Before the summer break, Lando Norris had won three of the previous four races.

After an error-filled start to the year, Norris had become more comfortable behind the wheel of the MCL39.

Ralf Schumacher has suggested Norris’ points gap to Piastri should ease the pressure on the British driver.

However, Norris has no plans to alter his approach.

“I don’t need to change anything. I mean every weekend I am trying to win. I don’t need to change that,” he added.

“I think if there are those situations where we have to race no one’s going to

make it easy for one another. Oscar for me or me for Oscar.

“He’s still my teammate at the end of the day and we still have to respect each other a lot. I think we always race each other well, on the limit.”