McLaren duo Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris are separated by just eight points heading into the second half of the 2025 season.
CEO Zak Brown said ‘may the best man win’ after Norris claimed his maiden British Grand Prix win at Silverstone. Having closed the gap to teammate Piastri with back-to-back wins after his DNF in Canada, the McLaren drivers have set up an intense title fight.
Position Drivers’ Championship PointsPts 1 234 2 226 3 165 4 147 5 119 6 103 7 63 8 46 9 37 10 23
The pair have been the class of the field in 2025, with the MCL39 proving the dominant package on the grid. Piastri has had the upper hand in the first half of the season, with five wins and four pole positions compared to Norris’ four wins and three poles.
McLaren have the ‘luxury’ of giving their drivers different setup options with their upgrades in 2025. It has resulted in Piastri and Norris taking their own approach to the MCL39 and finding weaknesses in the process.
Norris was ‘surprised’ by the car’s behaviour in qualifying, which led to numerous mistakes in Q3. The Brit has been making progress to mitigate that issue, but his teammate may now have made a step forward as well.
Photo by Paul Bonser/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty ImagesOscar Piastri may have figured out how to fix his ‘biggest complaint’ at McLaren
Piastri admitted to The Race that there are certain aspects of the MCL39’s setup that he tries to ‘avoid’. The Aussie’s ‘biggest complaint’ in 2025 is how the car can become unpredictable in terms of balance, but he may have learned how to fix the problem.
“There’s definitely things from just the car set-up and balance point of view that I try to avoid,” he said. “And some things I struggle with more than others on how I like the car to behave. But they’ve always been kind of rectifiable issues if we’ve had them in a weekend.
CategoryLando NorrisOscar Piastri2025 points226234Grand Prix results66Grand Prix qualifying66Grand Prix wins45Grand Prix poles44Grand Prix podiums1010Best finish1st1stRetirements10Fastest laps54Grand Prix points finishes1011Sprint results11Sprint Qualifying02Sprint wins10Sprint poles00Sprint podiums12The 2025 F1 teammate head-to-head battle of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri
“So I think from the car side of things, yes, there are things we have to be a bit careful of. The sometimes unpredictable nature of the car is not always the most pleasant. But we’ve done a very good job of dialing that out. And that was essentially my biggest complaint at the start of the year.
“You always want a car to be more and more and more predictable. There’s only a certain limit you can get to that, but that was kind of my biggest complaint originally.
“It is something we still have to be very careful of, but I think as the season’s gone on, we’ve kind of learned a lot more of how much of it is actually fixable and how to fix it.”
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Photo by Rasid Necati Aslim/Anadolu via Getty ImagesLando Norris may have his work cut out against Oscar Piastri in the second half of 2025
Norris will not like Piastri’s statements amid the progress he is making with the MCL39. He has closed the gap in the last two races, but he may have his work cut out as the Aussie fixes his biggest issue in 2025.
Piastri claims it is ‘easier’ to fight Norris for the title than it is to battle with Max Verstappen. He has the benefit of seeing his teammate’s data, which he can use to his advantage.
Furthermore, manager Mark Webber is using his fights with Lewis Hamilton to help Piastri get the better of Norris. The former Red Bull driver has a wealth of experience from battling the seven-time champion, which he can pass down to the McLaren talent in 2025.
Norris is carrying the momentum into the next double header at Spa and Budapest. But with Piastri’s new findings, he will be under pressure to keep his form up and regain the championship lead.