Lando Norris sent worrying F1 warning: 'Something has changed'

Former F1 driver Jolyon Palmer has stated "something has changed" with Lando Norris this year amid his pursuit of his maiden title. Norris entered the campaign as the favourite for the drivers' championship following McLaren's strong end to the 2024 season, which was capped off with a constructors' championship. Norris held the lead of the standings through the opening races of the current season before team-mate Oscar Piastri took over the top spot following his third win of the season in Saudi Arabia. Piastri's lead has since grown to 22 points, with the gap aided by Norris' non-finish last time out in Canada after he collided with Piastri late on. Palmer pointed to various mistakes Norris has made this year and voiced alarm over how the errors contrast with the rest of his career. "The whole time, he has been, in my mind, an exceptionally quick driver," Palmer told the F1 Nation podcast. "His qualifying pace, I put right up there with anyone and he actually hasn't made many mistakes in his career. "This year, it feels like something has changed. One thing that's changed is that he was the championship favourite coming into the season, he now has the best car. "There's nowhere to hide when you're the in-form driver coming into the year, you have the best car. The other 19 drivers are really looking at you and thinking, this is yours to lose. "As the season is going on, I'm seeing a Lando that I've not seen before, which is someone that's just making a lot of mistakes under pressure." Norris' clash with Piastri marked the first time the two title contenders made contact this year. The former took immediate blame for the incident, an approach hailed by McLaren team boss Andrea Stella. With the title battle ramping up, Palmer suggested the pressure on Norris' shoulders is resulting in his costly mistakes. "F1 is all about pressure," he said. "As a rookie, you come in and there's pressure. There's nowhere to hide in any race. "He's won races before. Abu Dhabi [2024] was pressure with a constructors' championship on the line.  "But the Q3 [mistakes], two that he made in Canada and then the misjudgment with Oscar, for me, it was just a pressure thing. "It's a complete misjudgment that I think must be from the pressure that he's probably added on himself at that moment "He's heaping the pressure on even if other people aren't, which generally they are. So it becomes this difficult situation for him."