Lando Norris reveals one big regret in Oscar Piastri title battle

Lando Norris says he regrets how he approached some of the early races in F1 2025, saying he has learned to drive more within himself since.

Some early-season mistakes left Norris playing catch-up against McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri, with the duo set for an intra-team showdown across the last 10 races of the F1 2025 season.

Lando Norris reveals F1 2025 regret over early-season approach

The gap between the championship-leading and second-placed Norris has shrunk to nine points in recent races, with Norris taking wins in Austria, Britain, and Hungary to close in on the Australian.

Piastri had a strong first third of the championship, capitalising on mistakes from Norris, particularly in qualifying, to gain the upper hand through a race weekend.

For instance, Norris made errors in Q3 in China and Bahrain, with his biggest blunder being a crash in Q3 in Saudi Arabia. This proved particularly damaging as Norris’ 10th-place grid slot came while Piastri took pole position.

Piastri went on to secure the win and open up a 10-point lead over Norris, a lead that remains largely intact to this day.

As the season has gone on and the revolutionary F1 2026 ruleset hoves into view, McLaren‘s pace advantage has meant many of its rival teams have stopped introducing updates or only have plans for minor tweaks between now and the end of this year.

This means that, with Red Bull’s Max Verstappen 97 points behind Piastri in the Drivers’ Championship, the title is near-certain to go to either Piastri or Norris, with the McLaren MCL39 proving untouchable through the middle section of this season.

His being behind Piastri is primarily down to these early faux pas, and Norris has explained that his eagerness to drive at the absolute limits of what he and the car were capable of led to these mistakes.

Having realised the potential of the MCL39, Norris said he is now driving much more within the capabilities of himself, reducing the chances of making the errors that have cost him.

“It can be a mix. There are even some times this year where 99 percent, even 95 percent, will do fine,” he told media, including PlanetF1.com, in Hungary, when asked if he’s realised driving at less than 100 percent might be enough to win the title.

“These are some of the things I saw in my mistakes earlier in the season, trying to perform at 100 percent more.

“Sometimes, that’s amazing. Sometimes that’s, I think, as good as you can get and what I feel is the optimal in what I think a driver can achieve at times. I do believe that.

“But also, at times, I should drive at 95% or even 90% and that’s enough to be on pole sometimes.

“I do regret trying to be so good at the beginning part of the season. I think now, already, I sometimes just settle for a 95 percent lap, and that’s been good enough.”

The McLaren head-to-head in F1 2025

👉 F1 2025: Head-to-head qualifying statistics between team-mates

👉 F1 2025: Head-to-head race statistics between team-mates

While there have been mistakes along the way from Norris, the same can be said of Piastri, who slid off the road while chasing Norris in Australia when a sudden downpour started, as well as an error in judgment of his braking behind the Safety Car at Silverstone that triggered a penalty and cost him the win.

Norris fought for the championship against Verstappen in F1 2024, ultimately losing out as multiple mistakes meant Verstappen could massage his early-season points lead home.

The British driver has taken a clear step forward in his own consistency this year, and PlanetF1.com asked him where he feels he’s improved most over the past 18 months or so since McLaren became a true front-runner.

“It’s just that there are always different situations, different moments along the way,” he said.

“I think, as a driver, I still feel better than I was. It doesn’t mean I always do a better job, because the car is quite different.

“This year, I’ve had my tricky moments with the car and understanding how to drive it, just because, yes, it’s a McLaren.

“It’s got papaya on it, but it handles pretty differently to how it did in previous years. So I’ve had to just adapt to that, and it’s not suited me as well on those things.

“But this was stuff I got to do what I’ve had to do, when I needed to do a better job to get back to being as quick as I need to be, which I feel like I’ve done.

“I’ve improved on something, my ability to improve on worse moments as proof, or the ability to improve on certain struggles that you might achieve during the weekend or over a session or practice, whatever it is.

“Other than that, I think this is always going to be for everyone, little things along the way that’s a new experience or you didn’t expect that you wish you could be better on, but I think that’s just life.”

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