16/08/2025 08:20
Lando Norris expects his "tough" F1 drivers' championship fight
with Oscar Piastri to continue once the season resumes after the
summer break. The McLaren driver highlighted the already "pretty
small margins" between the pair, with his team-mate holding a slim,
nine-point advantage in the standings with 10 rounds of the
campaign left to run. Whilst Norris was the quicker driver last
year, Piastri has made strides in qualifying pace and with his race
pace, making them a perilously close match. The Australian has six
victories to the 25-year-old's five, but Norris is still very
slightly the faster of the two. Piastri has built his lead through
minimising errors, which has been an issue for his team-mate.
However, the eight-time grand prix winner has come close to
mistakes of his own in recent rounds, with two near-misses in
Austria and Hungary, underlining the parity between them. "I think
it's already tough, and it's going to continue to be tough," Norris
told media, including RacingNews365 , when asked about how
difficult the second 'half' of the campaign will be. "It's pretty
small margins between us. "I'm sure there's some things I can do
better on and improve on, and I'm sure he'll probably say a similar
thing. "So, it's going to be a good and tough battle probably till
the end. It takes a lot out of you trying to focus so much for
every single session, race, everything." Despite having won three
of the past four grands prix to reduce his arrears from the 22
points it was after the Canadian Grand Prix, Norris believes he has
not made life "very easy" for himself. He highlighted that if he
can eradicate those mistakes, like the race-ending collision he
suffered in Montreal, he will be better positioned for the run in.
"So, it's going be a long second half of the season, I'm sure... [I
will] try and come back even better because there are those things
I need to improve on and want to improve on," the nine-time grand
prix winner explained. "I'm not giving myself the best
opportunities. Even though the results have looked great, I'm not
making my life very easy for myself at the minute. So if I can work
on those things, then I'll be in a better place." Piastri echoed
his team-mate's sentiment, as predicted, adding he feels it will be
a captivating fight between them. "Yeah, very much the same," the
24-year-old said. "I think it's going to be a tough second half of
the year. "It has been tough already, and the margins are very
fine. So, I think it's going to be great watching." Who do you
think will score the most points over the final 10 rounds of the F1
season? Let us know by voting below in the latest poll by
RacingNews365 .
