Lando Norris summed the 2025 Belgian Grand Prix up perfectly post-race: “Shoulda, woulda, coulda, Oscar deserved it.”
That was after being asked about the errors that prevented him from mounting a challenge on McLaren team-mate and championship rival Oscar Piastri at Spa-Francorchamps.
And yet that answer hardly scratches the surface of what really happened on track during the 44-lap event that saw Piastri extend his lead in the drivers’ standings and left Norris‘ mentality being questioned by fans and pundits again. So how did the Australian end up winning and what does this mean for both drivers?
Norris’ biggest error at the start?
The backdrop to the Belgian Grand Prix was that Piastri was entering with his first real challenge – how would he react to losing the British GP because of a penalty caused by his error?
He answered pretty well by qualifying on pole for the sprint and while he couldn’t keep Max Verstappen behind on the run to Les Combes, second on the road still saw him slightly lengthen the points gap to Norris.
But the Briton came back swinging in qualifying and headed Piastri for the first time with pole position for the main race.
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That’s where the good news stopped for Norris, however. After an 80-minute delay due to poor visibility after pre-race – and then mid-delay rainfall – the race started behind the safety car. Four laps of running elapsed before Norris was given the chance to lead from the front with a rolling start.
He pinned the throttle just after Blanchimont but Piastri anticipated it well and kept close order into the final chicane. That was the first issue for Norris – he hadn’t gained enough of a gap across the start-finish line.
Then there was a slide at La Source – nothing major, but enough to put him on the back foot. With a clean exit, Piastri carried an advantage all the way down to Eau Rouge and Raidillon before pouncing down the Kemmel Straight, not even needing the Les Combes breaking zone.
Norris had full control of the situation yet spurned the strategic high ground instantly, something that would ultimately be crucial when the time came to switch from intermediate to slick tyres.
A radio message broadcast at the start of lap two suggested Norris was hamstrung by battery pack issues, but speaking to media post-race, McLaren team principal Andrea Stella explained: “In reality, when it comes to the usage of the battery at the start, I understand that there was a slight anomaly which actually happened on both sides.
“So nothing that should have penalised Lando in particular, compared to Oscar. [We’re] still checking the data, but this is the initial feedback I received.
“So I think the overtake, ultimately, came because it’s very difficult for the car that leads the pack to actually arrive first in Turn 5. It’s not impossible, but it does require to have a decent advantage as you cross the finish line, which was not the case for Lando already under his start.”
And it’s something that Norris added to, praising Piastri for his initial jump.
“Oscar just did a good job [at the start],” said Norris. “Nothing more to say. Committed a bit more through Eau Rouge, and had the
slipstream and got the run.
“So nothing to complain of. He did a better job in the beginning, and that was it. Nothing more I could do after that point. I would love to be up top, but Oscar deserved it.”
Norris mistakes during crucial chase
With Piastri able to pit a lap earlier than Norris when the crossover point came, an eight-second gap was created to highlight just how important that first racing lap was.
Norris was given the chance to put the hard tyre on and easily make the end of the race while Piastri was on mediums, faced with the task of managing his compound to the end to hold onto victory.
That meant that Norris needed to push on his hards and close the gap, taking away the opportunity for his team-mate to coast on his tyres and save life in them. The time started to come down before a twitch of the back end at Pouhon saw Norris run off track and lose 1.2 seconds.
Another error at La Source took away any hope of victory before a third mistake, again at Turn 1, on the last lap highlighted how much Norris was pushing.
That’s the key point though. Mentality is being targeted against Norris again but in difficult conditions, he was pushing all the way to the end. This wasn’t a question of mentality – these weren’t silly, clumsy errors like the incident in Canada, they were coming with a driver on the edge of adhesion.
The issue is that Piastri isn’t making as many errors this season. To suggest he doesn’t at all is plainly nonsense, given he slid off-track from second in Australia and then picked up the penalty at Silverstone to give Norris the victory.
As Norris said after the race: “I’m sure he made a couple of mistakes, so if he drove a perfect race, I couldn’t have won today. I’ll review my things.
“But I’m still happy for the team. Another 1-2. I think our first here for many, many years. A well-deserved result for them and Oscar, too.”
Norris mentality is fine, but is he championship material?
If these errors weren’t down to mentality, is there still a question mark over Norris‘ approach? Well there shouldn’t be, given his ability to park any demons and come back fighting with two wins in Austria and Silverstone – the first of which was utterly dominant.
But what is unquestionable is the fact that errors have been more frequent for Norris than they have been for Piastri. It’s a point 2016 world champion Nico Rosberg made on the Sky Sports F1 broadcast on Sunday.
“That’s fair play – to listen to Lando’s words, that he was just qualifying lap after qualifying lap on the absolute edge, and then perhaps a couple of mistakes like that happen,” Rosberg said.
“I just question whether someone like Hamilton, if he also would have made three mistakes, which I’m not sure. Pushing like crazy in a race like that, when there’s Hammer-time – I’m not sure. I think they don’t happen then, those three mistakes.”
That may be true and that may be the difference between being world champion or not at the end of the season. But there is still a long way to go and the points gap is by no means insurmountable. If Norris does miss out, it doesn’t mean it’s down to mentality. Sometimes a driver can just have a better season than another. That, as they say, is how the cookie crumbles.
