{"id":111591,"date":"2025-09-01T10:14:12","date_gmt":"2025-09-01T10:14:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/111591\/"},"modified":"2025-09-01T10:14:12","modified_gmt":"2025-09-01T10:14:12","slug":"lando-norris-must-now-change-the-habit-of-a-lifetime-after-cruel-f1-title-blow-for-mclaren-driver","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/111591\/","title":{"rendered":"Lando Norris must now change the habit of a lifetime after cruel F1 title blow for McLaren driver"},"content":{"rendered":"

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The timing could not have been more piercing for Lando Norris<\/a>. Just as the crestfallen McLaren<\/a> driver trudged back to the Zandvoort pit-lane, Oscar Piastri<\/a> was introduced onto the top step of the podium as the winner of the Dutch Grand Prix<\/a>. The Brit was not hanging around for the national anthems; emotions in papaya could not have been more juxtaposed. <\/p>\n

Norris\u2019s cruel retirement from second in the field<\/a> on Sunday with eight laps to go, the result of an oil leak due to a suspected chassis issue, has changed the whole complexion of this season\u2019s F1<\/a> championship race. A gap to teammate Piastri which was at nine points pre-race \u2013 and was set to increase to 16 \u2013 now stands at 34 points<\/a>. In a campaign of fine margins between the McLaren duo, it is a game-changing moment. <\/p>\n

The scenario brought back memories from nine years ago, in a similar intra-team title battle between the Mercedes duo of Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton<\/a>. Leading the 2016 Malaysian Grand Prix comfortably with 15 laps to go, Hamilton suffered an engine failure<\/a> and from a forecasted lead of five points, the Brit then trailed Rosberg by 23. <\/p>\n

\"Lando<\/p>\n

open image in gallery<\/p>\n

Lando Norris looks up as Oscar Piastri walks onto the top step of the podium in Zandvoort (Getty Images)<\/p>\n

As a sign of the task ahead for Norris, Hamilton won four of the remaining five races and still couldn\u2019t claw back the deficit. On that day in Sepang, Hamilton\u2019s cry of \u201coh no, no!\u201d over team radio after his mechanical breakdown became the memorable soundbite of the season. <\/p>\n

This year, Norris\u2019s head slumped between his knees while sitting solemnly on the Zandvoort sand dunes could be the season-defining image of F1 in 2025. For what it\u2019s worth, Norris\u2019s immediate reaction on team radio was not one of utter exasperation. Instead, it was begrudging acceptance that fate was, in similarity to last year\u2019s title tilt, not swinging his way. <\/p>\n

Admirably, his reflections in the media pen were level-headed: \u201cOf course it\u2019s frustrating. It hurts for sure, in a championship point of view. It\u2019s a lot of points to lose so quickly and so easily. But there\u2019s nothing I can control now, so I\u2019ll just take it on the chin and move on.\u201d <\/p>\n

Of course, the title battle is far from over. There are nine races \u2013 and three sprint races \u2013 left and 225 points still to play for. If Norris won the next five races and Piastri came second, the Briton would overtake the Australian with four races left. A tall order, sure, but definitely achievable. Rather more simply (but unlikely) is that a mechanical issue could impact Piastri too, as the season draws to a close. <\/p>\n

Yet the impact of a DNF at this stage of the season is seismic. Since F1 changed the point-scoring system in 2010 \u2013 from 10 points for the winner and the top-eight scoring points to 25 points for the winner and the top-10 scoring points \u2013 titles have often been decided by the modern-day anomaly of a retirement for a front-of-the-pack car. As well as 2016, Hamilton\u2019s error in Azerbaijan in 2021 effectively cost him 25 points, which would have also handed him a world championship regardless of the Abu Dhabi controversy<\/a> at the finale. <\/p>\n

\"Norris<\/p>\n

open image in gallery<\/p>\n

Norris sits solemnly on the Zandvoort sand dunes after his cruel retirement (Formula 1)\"Piastri<\/p>\n

open image in gallery<\/p>\n

Piastri celebrates his victory at the Dutch Grand Prix (Getty Images)<\/p>\n

But the wider significance of Norris\u2019s desperate case of rotten luck makes for an intriguing run-in. On one hand, to an extent, Piastri can now play it safe. The cool-headed Aussie can mitigate any risk, turn up engine modes for reliability and, where necessary, accept not winning, with his buffer now more than a grand prix victory. <\/p>\n

TOP-10 – F1 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP<\/p>\n

1. Oscar Piastri (McLaren) \u2013 309 points<\/p>\n

2. Lando Norris (McLaren) \u2013 275 points<\/p>\n

3. Max Verstappen (Red Bull) \u2013 205 points<\/p>\n

4. George Russell (Mercedes) \u2013 184 points<\/p>\n

5. Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) \u2013 151 points<\/p>\n

6. Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari) \u2013 109 points<\/p>\n

7. Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes) \u2013 64 points<\/p>\n

8. Alex Albon (Williams) \u2013 64 points<\/p>\n

9. Nico Hulkenberg (Sauber) – 37 points<\/p>\n

10. Isack Hadjar (Racing Bulls) \u2013 37 points<\/p>\n

Yet with that advantage comes a different type of pressure. In the heat of the moment, will Piastri be able to curb all his racing instincts and take no chances? In just his third season in F1, will a title within his grasp finally show chinks in his armoury? All the signs so far suggest not. <\/p>\n

\u201cLike we say in cricket, we\u2019d rather have the runs on the board than not,\u201d said Piastri\u2019s manager Mark Webber, who himself missed out on a world title to Red Bull teammate Sebastian Vettel in 2010. <\/p>\n

\u201cBut there\u2019s a long way to go \u2013 we\u2019ve got races like Brazil, where it rains. We’ve got Singapore, Azerbaijan, which are street circuits where anything can happen.\u201d <\/p>\n

And this plays to the other side of the coin. As he alluded to after the race, Norris can now move forward and race the rest of the season with the handbrake off. In one way, it makes the Bristolian\u2019s task all the more simple. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s almost a big enough gap now that I can just chill out and just go for it,\u201d he said. It may be no bad thing that the next race comes around quickly, with the Italian Grand Prix at Monza this weekend. <\/p>\n

\"Norris<\/p>\n

open image in gallery<\/p>\n

Norris must now go hell-for-leather in the remaining nine races (Getty)\"Norris<\/p>\n

open image in gallery<\/p>\n

Norris (bottom-left) was present for McLaren’s race-winning photo after Piastri’s victory (McLaren F1)<\/p>\n

\u201cThe only thing I can do now is try to win every race,\u201d he added. \u201cThat\u2019s going to be difficult but I\u2019ll make sure I give it everything I can.\u201d <\/p>\n

It\u2019s not Norris\u2019s natural style to go hell-for-leather. Last year, he was criticised for his inability to strike an unsentimental tone on the racetrack and in the media pen up against Max Verstappen. <\/p>\n

But there\u2019s now no reason not to. Even the much-maligned \u2018papaya rules\u2019 stance of the McLaren team can somewhat be ignored. If he gets involved in a close skirmish with Piastri now on track, so what? The risk is Piastri\u2019s, not his. <\/p>\n

To his credit, and in a somewhat bizarre snapshot, Norris was present for McLaren\u2019s customary race-winning photo. He put on a brave face, raised a fist-pump, and smiled. He must have been seething inside. <\/p>\n

Yet now he must change his amiable disposition, the habit of a lifetime, and find a hard-nosed edge. Otherwise, for the second consecutive year, a maiden title within his reach will race away into the yonder. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Your support helps us to tell the story From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":111592,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[441],"tags":[49,48,578,576,577,82],"class_list":["post-111591","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-formula-1","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-f1","tag-formula-1","tag-formula1","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111591","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=111591"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111591\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/111592"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=111591"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=111591"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=111591"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}