After Austin, the World Championship battle in the 2025 Formula 1 season is more open than ever: Lando Norris stays cool, but McLaren sees its own weaknesses more clearly than ever
For McLaren driver Lando Norris, the narrowed gaps in the Formula 1 drivers’ standings after the 2025 US Grand Prix “make no difference.” After finishing second, which brought him closer to championship leader Oscar Piastri, Norris said, “Nothing changes.”
Norris also emphasized that Red Bull driver Max Verstappen, currently third in the championship, putting additional pressure on Norris and Piastri with his victory in Austin, also “doesn’t matter” to him.
“It’s pretty simple: I just have to beat both drivers, then life is easy. I can only try to score as many points as possible every weekend. The more points I collect, the better it is for both situations. I don’t have to do anything differently for either option.”
It’s getting closer at the top of the Formula 1 drivers’ standings
But some things have changed after the US Grand Prix: Norris is closer to Piastri than he has been since the Hungarian Grand Prix. At that time, he was nine points behind his McLaren teammate—now it’s 14.
And Verstappen is closing in from behind: he is now 26 points behind Norris and 40 behind Piastri.
Team principal Stella: McLaren needs to refocus
That’s why McLaren team principal Andrea Stella warns: “We didn’t manage to reach our full potential in Austin after a disappointing Saturday. We did get a podium and some good points, but it felt like we didn’t achieve enough compared to the others. Overall, it just wasn’t the weekend we had hoped for.“
”We always strive to achieve a one-two finish. We didn’t manage that. Now we need to refocus, apply what we’ve learned and build on the positives to have a better weekend in Mexico,” explained Stella.
