Yesterday at 06:30
Oscar Piastri has claimed he is "not concerned at all" by seeing
Lando Norris slash his F1 drivers' championship advantage from 22
points down to just nine at the summer break. The McLaren
team-mates are locked in an intriguing intra-squad battle for their
maiden titles, and the points delta between them has ebbed and
flowed all year. Piastri has held the lead in the standings since
the end of the fifth round, the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, but has
seen the surplus whittled down by Norris since the Canadian Grand
Prix. When it was put to him that the fight had trended towards the
British driver since the trip to Montreal, Piastri diminished the
significance of the 25-year-old's recent momentum. "The biggest
lead of the year has been 23, and it's not moved within 10 points
for the last ten races, almost," Piastri told media, including
RacingNews365 . "So, I'm not really that fussed with that.
"Obviously, it would have been nice to have the extra points, but I
don't think it's necessarily a trend." The Australian highlighted
how marginal the trip to the Hungaroring was, and how it very
easily could have resulted in a 14-point swing in the other
direction, something that would have afforded him the 23-point lead
Norris held after the season-opening round in Melbourne. "One
second different, and the trend would have looked quite different
[after the Hungarian Grand Prix]," the eight-time grand prix winner
stated. "Things happening in the last few races differently could
have meant quite a different picture. "But you can say that about
pretty much every race this year and about every championship ever.
So, I'm not concerned at all." There were also pivotal moments
elsewhere, which have swung the impetus back and forth, such as
Norris' unforced error at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, where he
threw away 10 points - points that would have given him the
advantage at this stage - or at Silverstone, where Piastri
needlessly incurred a penalty which robbed him of victory, which
his team-mate claimed. Despite a couple of small mistakes and
missed opportunities, Piastri is pleased with his form so far and
expects to replicate those performances in the final 10 rounds of
the campaign, which looks set to head down to the wire in Abu
Dhabi. "I think the pace for the first half of the year has been
very, very strong, and I think the last few races as well have been
very good," he said. "I feel like I've driven a lot of strong
races, and it's been very tightly fought. So, I expect more of the
same after the break." How the points gap has fluctuated between
the McLaren drivers can be found below. 2025 F1 drivers' champion
points gap between Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris
