Norris’ Bubble Bursts with Piastri turning Championship into an Inevitability
It is one thing to watch your championship rival extend his lead. It is something else entirely to be able to do nothing about it. As Piastri continued what seems to be an inevitable march to the Drivers’ Crown, Norris wasn’t even in the other McLaren this time around. Instead, he had to make do, watching Piastri add another 25 points to his lead from the sand dunes of Zandvoort.
Piastri started from pole and held his lead into the first couple of corners. Lando conceded his second place to Verstappen after the Dutchman pulled off a Gilles Villeneuve-esque overtake into turn 3 on his soft tyres. But his Red Bull —as expected— was no match for the McLaren and Norris swept around the outside of Tarzan to reclaim his second place on lap 9. The gap to Piastri then sat at just under four and a half seconds, but it wasn’t long before Norris was on the Australian’s gearbox.
Barring one lap, soon after a safety car restart, Norris never got within a second. The one instance that he did, Piastri pumped in a couple of purple sectors, and the gap was reestablished. Norris was kept at arm’s length, and Piastri seemed in total control. Overtaking around Zandvoort can be tricky at the best of times, barring a mistake from the Aussie, Norris was destined to spend the race getting familiar with the back of Piastri’s car.
Whether Lando had significantly more pace is a question only the drivers can answer. What was clear is that Piastri seemed to take a leaf out of Alain Prost’s book: win at the slowest possible speed.
Norris and Piastri were poised to finish for their 5th consecutive 1-2 finish. Piastri’s lead would have grown, but only to 16. Then came the smoke. Norris’ McLaren gave way, and potentially with it his title hopes. From the dunes of Zandvoort, he could only watch his second place disappear, and the gap to Piastri swell to a significant 34 points.
Team principal Andrea Stella has said “a chassis-related issue” was the cause of Norris’ retirement. Whatever the case, Norris is left with a monumental task. Overhauling 34 points in 9 races when you’re in the same car as your teammate is an almost Sisyphean quest, especially when your teammate looks outright faster.
Even Norris concedes as much. In his own words, Piastri is “quick”, “strong” and “good in pretty much every situation”. Has anyone received such glowing praise from their title rival before?
Parallels have been drawn with Malaysia 2016, where Lewis Hamilton’s engine gave way in the lead of the race. The result? A 28-point swing towards Nico Rosberg in the championship, points that ultimately proved decisive in a title fight decided by just five.
But this comparison flatters Norris. Piastri is threatening to render Zandvoort irrelevant altogether. The 18 points that Norris lost can potentially be decisive come Abu Dhabi, but if Piastri continues to press his advantage, the championship may already be over by Qatar.
Don’t let Norris’ misfortune detract from what has been a psychologically crushing showing by his teammate. Piastri has continued to display his terminator-like quality of identifying weaknesses and eliminating them. In 2024, the Aussie struggled in China and Spain. He then proceeded to win both of these races in 2025, comfortably outclassing Norris. Piastri has made a habit of learning quickly, whether it be race pace challenges in 2023 or outright one-lap pace in 2024, Piastri has all the answers and Zandvoort was just the latest exam he aced.
Norris looked untouchable early. He had topped every single practice session heading into qualifying. Last year, Piastri had been nowhere, half a second off in qualifying and 27 seconds behind Norris in the race. But this all changed in the dying moments of Q1.
On their second runs on scrubbed soft for the first time this weekend, Piastri was quicker than Norris and topped the timesheets. Piastri addressed where Norris held most of his margin in the right-handers of turns 8 and 9. The moment that lap time was sent, Piastri’s marker was laid. Norris would not walk to pole position. From there, Piastri out-qualified him, wrestled control and never let go —leading every one of the 72 laps.
As it is customary to say, the championship is far from over. Piastri could easily fall foul of a mechanical issue or be tagged from behind. The streets of Baku and Singapore, as well as the weather of Brazil, can flip the points situation on its head. But if Piastri avoids disaster, Norris chasing him on pure pace seems almost futile.
Lando Norris may have been unlucky in Zandvoort, but Oscar Piastri is turning this championship into a content inevitability. As Arnold Schwarzenegger said in The Terminator, “I’ll be back”— and just like he drove his car straight into the police station, Piastri is driving his McLaren straight to the title.
About the Author: Moosa Niazi
Brisbane kid who’s chasing narratives. Cricket, F1 and everywhere in between, trying to justify the hours lost watching them.
