Lando Norris made two critical errors during the Formula 1 2025 Belgian Grand Prix that could cost him the championship against his McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri, according to an F1 expert.
Norris started Sunday’s wet race at Spa from pole position and even had the benefit of a standing start. But the combination of a battery issue and allowing Piastri into his slipstream saw the Australian get past in a crucial stint of the race, giving the latter full control of pit stop strategy when dry tyres were required later on.
Piastri won by just over four seconds, a gap that had been etched away by Norris as he used the durability of his tyres. But errors from the Briton condemned him to second place, opening up the gap by a further seven points between them.
Speaking on the Total Motorsport F1 Show, Ewan Gale and Brandon Sutton discussed the errors made by Norris and the lack of wheel-to-wheel combat between the pair.
“He [Norris] didn’t get quite get the jump right, he went in a bit of no-man’s land after Blanchimont before the final chicane and Piastri read it like a book. He was able to stay close and Piastri was past easily before there was any need to combat racing. That was the big mistake Norris made,” Gale said.
“The other mistake – and it’s understandable in the conditions and the situation he found himself in – but losing the strategic high ground, when you knew there was going to be a crossover between the intermediate and wet tyre, was the big mistake Norris made. That was the difference between the two in the end.
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“Piastri never really had to look behind him too much and saved his tyres for the end of the race. That’s why I don’t think it would’ve been as close as perhaps it would’ve seemed, had Norris kept the car on the road without any mistakes.
“But you just have to hand it to Piastri, he made no mistakes and made Norris work for it and he couldn’t draw him back in. That could be the difference between winning the championship or coming second.
McLaren split predicted as Hamilton vs Rosberg comparison made
Gale predicted that the battle between Norris and Piastri will eventually heat up now that it’s clearly a two-horse race, with McLaren perhaps adopting the separate garages stance taken by Mercedes when Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg fought for the championship.
“In this situation, it’s the same team at McLaren and they race similar setups on their cars. But what they are doing in the races is they are splitting strategies in terms of what the drivers want,” Gale added.
“I think they’ve realised it’s a two-horse race in the championship and they are giving the drivers the freedom to get after each other with the strategy, like we saw with Norris where they gave him the hard tyre to do something different. That’s a breath of fresh air, really refreshing.
“But I think going forward, that will exaggerate a bit more. It will feel like a two-team battle at the front, in a way, because the garages will split. Then I think we’ll get more of a Hamilton-Rosberg type battle that we saw between 2014 and 2016 when Mercedes were dominant.
“That will bring the spice and energy in this title battle that we’ve lacked so far this season.
However, Sutton believes Norris and Piastri have been separated too often to make the title race enjoyable for the average F1 fan to witness: “The most frustrating thing about this race and this season is something always keeps Piastri and Norris from going wheel-to-wheel,” Sutton said.
“Sometimes Norris qualifies a few places behind and that gives Piastri three or four seconds that he can manage for the rest of the race. The strategy gave Piastri that gap and it’s happened a few times this season.
“There’s only 15 points between them in the championship, but there’s barely been any memorable moments in terms of combat. It’s been a strange season and a bit boring at the front. I think the Belgian GP was another example of that.”
