Lando Norris` victory at Sunday`s Austrian Grand Prix delivered a clear response to his critics. Through a blend of strong race craft, calm execution under pressure, and most importantly, outright performance, he has revitalized a championship narrative that seemed poised to sideline him after his disappointing Canadian Grand Prix two weeks prior.
Throughout the three days at the Red Bull Ring, Norris demonstrated a decisive edge over his McLaren teammate and main championship competitor, Oscar Piastri. Piastri struggled to find an answer to Norris` pace in practice, qualifying, and the race. Even when the Australian briefly took the lead with an overtake at Turn 3 on Lap 11, Norris immediately reclaimed the position at the very next corner, firmly regaining control of the situation.
Of course, one race result alone doesn`t define a season. Norris still faces a significant challenge to overcome the 15-point deficit to Piastri in the drivers` standings. Moreover, had he failed to secure the win in Austria – and there were moments in the first part of the race when Piastri posed a threat – his championship ambitions would have suffered a harsh, potentially irreversible blow.
For a driver whose self-inflicted errors have frequently cast doubt on his credentials as a championship contender, the Austrian Grand Prix could indeed prove to be a pivotal moment.
`It`s certainly fulfilling for me,` Norris commented Sunday evening. `It provides me with good confidence. Honestly, I don`t feel the need to prove anything to anyone else. I prefer to prove things to myself, probably more than anything.`
`So, it`s certainly been a good, clean weekend from FP2 onwards. I felt very comfortable and completely in command of the car and performed exactly as I wanted and needed to. I simply had a clean weekend. That`s what I got.`
Clean weekends are precisely what Norris has most desperately needed this year. Mistakes, particularly in the crucial final qualifying session, have been a recurring issue for the 25-year-old, even when he appeared to have a performance advantage over Piastri.
However, at the Red Bull Ring – a circuit where Norris claimed his first F1 podium and has consistently performed well – he looked convincingly faster. One could argue this has been the case in four of the last five races (Imola, Monaco, Canada despite his incident with Piastri, and Austria), but maximizing this advantage with pole position and victory has presented Norris` title credentials in a new light.
`It`s not that I haven`t been able to do it before, and the pace has always been there at certain points,` he said. `There have just been different reasons for different things. But certainly, coming in today and yesterday to do the job that I did, I`m pretty happy with. But it doesn`t come easily. It doesn`t come just because I`ve turned up this weekend and things are better. I`m working a lot. I`m doing a lot more work than I used to away from the track with the team, on the simulator, with my own team, trying to improve everything that I can both on and off the track.`
`I think it`s more a positive thing to see a lot of those things paying off immediately. Good step in the right direction. Still need more, so want more. So, we`ll keep working.`
Team principal Andrea Stella stated that post-Canada discussions with Norris focused on supporting his driver rather than assigning blame. Norris had already taken responsibility for the Montreal crash himself, and according to Stella, the focus quickly shifted to rebuilding his confidence in time for the Austrian race.
`The conversations were entirely about the fact that the speed is definitely present,` Stella said. `He achieved pole position and victory in Monaco. When he made contact with the wall during qualifying in Canada, he was on track for pole position. He was the fastest car in the Canadian race and he secured pole position here in Austria. The speed is there; we just need to refine a few aspects of execution, and the results will follow, which Lando demonstrated here in Austria.`
Lando Norris` win at Sunday`s Austrian Grand Prix reduced McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri`s championship lead to just 15 points.
`So I am very proud of Lando, very proud of how everyone managed the situation in Canada and the fact that we finished up more united and stronger.`
Even considering the points he lost in Canada, Norris has slightly outscored Piastri over the past five races (86 to 85). Viewed in this way, and based on his relative performance against Piastri, Norris appears very much a contender despite his previous mistakes.
Piastri Explores the Limits
During the initial stage of the race, Norris` victory seemed far from assured. Piastri was able to apply significant pressure on his teammate, positioning his car right on the gearbox of the other McLaren until Norris made his first pit stop at the end of Lap 20.
The battle featured plenty of wheel-to-wheel action, including arguably Piastri`s best opportunity when Norris ran wide through the final two corners on Lap 14, briefly presenting Piastri with a chance for a risky move at Turn 1. He decided against it, but five laps later, he appeared more daring as he aimed his McLaren towards a gap on Norris` inside at Turn 4 – although this gap quickly closed, forcing Piastri to lock up his tires and run wide.
For McLaren, this incident pushed the boundaries of what is permitted between the two drivers. Piastri was informed over the team radio that the move was `too marginal.` He later agreed with the pit wall`s assessment and apologized over team radio after crossing the finish line.
`I think the fact that Oscar acknowledged it and said that he was sorry for that situation indicates that he understood that, especially at that phase of the stint when your front tires are quite worn, if you go for that gap you may not be entirely in control of the car, you may lock up,` Stella explained. `So I think the issue that I observed there is that the tires were locked, and with the lockup, you lose control of the car, and we don`t want the proximity of the two cars to be determined by something that we are not fully in control of.`
`So I think that`s our interpretation, which I believe coincides with Oscar`s interpretation. And from every situation, we will take the opportunity to review. We do it together; the conversations are always very positive and constructive, and we will fine-tune things even more for the future.`
The close call effectively ended the direct wheel-to-wheel confrontation. Norris pitted at the end of Lap 20, while Piastri stayed out for four additional laps. This shifted the contest into a strategic battle, where Norris` lead extended by virtue of switching to fresh tires sooner, but Piastri emerged on younger tires that would, in theory, provide him with a performance advantage in the second half of the race.
Before committing to this offset strategy, Piastri was given the choice: pit one lap after Norris and likely emerge 1.5 seconds behind his teammate, or delay his stop for a tire advantage and emerge roughly four seconds behind. He chose the latter option, although in reality, the gap was six seconds by the time he rejoined the track.
With the benefit of hindsight, Piastri was unable to recover that six-second deficit with his younger tires. However, Stella believes this was partly attributable to Norris` strong pace in the second stint.
`In that kind of situation, you have two options,` the McLaren team principal explained. `The first option is to pit immediately, one lap after the car in the lead. This means you`re likely to be a couple of seconds behind and pretty much with the same tire age. The other option is to delay the stop so that you build the so-called tire delta. And then once you stop, you`re potentially three, four seconds back, but you will have better tires.`
`And then you will have a stint closing onto the car that stopped before you. On circuits with high tire degradation like here, normally staying out provides a benefit. I think today it wasn`t necessarily obvious because we cannot separate how the strategy worked for Oscar from how fast Lando actually was.`
`Because I believe Lando was genuinely fast in the second stint on the hard tires, and this prevented Oscar from fully capitalizing on the fact that he had built this tire delta. I think Lando, without the pressure of having to defend constantly, perhaps utilized a one-tenth pace advantage, and he made Oscar`s strategy look like it didn`t work out.`
A Potential `Two-Horse Race`
After Kimi Antonelli collided with Max Verstappen`s Red Bull on the opening lap, the reigning champion`s already fragile title hopes appeared shattered by Sunday evening. A 61-point gap to Piastri in the drivers` standings and a car that cannot consistently perform in all conditions make it extremely improbable that Verstappen will overtake both McLarens and retain his championship title.
On Sunday evening, Red Bull team principal Christian Horner was hesitant to admit Verstappen`s title hopes were over, but he couldn`t deny the reality of the situation.
`I think this season, the buffer that [McLaren] have is significant,` Horner remarked. `It looks very much like a two-horse race. For us, we just concentrate on every single grand prix, and you try and seize every opportunity.`
The encouraging news for everyone watching is that this potential two-horse race possesses all the characteristics of a genuine championship battle that could extend right to the final race. At this juncture, it`s impossible to predict with certainty who will emerge victorious at the next event, let alone in the championship.
`I think with both drivers, we need to approach it one race at a time, and in each individual race, we need to ensure that we maximize our potential, stay in contention, and race each other according to our approach and principles,` Stella concluded. `And then, we will see in Abu Dhabi what the outcome is.`
Dominic Ashworth