Lando Norris insists he can still win the Formula One world championship despite his bad luck at the last race in Zandvoort.
Running in second place behind teammate and championship leader Oscar Piastri last Sunday, Norris’s McLaren car suffered an oil leak, due to a chassis issue, and he was forced to retire with eight laps to go.
The DNF result cost Norris 18 points in the title race and he now trails Piastri by 34 points with nine races to go.
Yet speaking ahead of the Italian Grand Prix in Monza this weekend, the last race of the European season, Norris refused to be too downbeat as he eyes a comeback against the man on the other side of the garage.
“The team have absolutely done a good job, it’s more unfortunate timing for this to happen in my most important year in Formula One,” he said on Thursday, in a written media briefing.
“It’s just something that happens, just unlucky. It wasn’t a bad job by anyone.”
Asked if he believes Piastri now needs to suffer a DNF in order for him to win the title, Norris replied: “No because in the end, if he’s done a better job, then credit to him.
“That’s how I am. I can still win the championship without anything like that happening and that’s the way I wish to do it. It’d make my life easier if there were just some more drivers in between us now and again.
“We’re so dominant as a team that it almost makes my life harder, that’s probably the most frustrating part of it all.
“But it’s still the best man win and if it’s that way at the end of the season, I’ll respect that.”
Piastri, meanwhile, believes Norris won’t change the way he goes racing despite needing to claw back a deficit which totals more than a race victory over the coming months.
“I don’t think much will change,” the Australian said. “He’s not out of the fight. We’ll race each other the same way, it’s not like we’ve been holding anything back to this point.
“We both know that for one of us, the end will be a pretty amazing time, but for the other, it’ll be pretty painful. Zak [Brown, McLaren CEO] and the team are pretty sensitive to that.”
McLaren will be the favourites once again this weekend at the famous Monza circuit, home of Ferrari, and are currently on a five-race win streak dating back to Canada in June.
Lando Norris must now change the habit of a lifetime after cruel F1 title blow
Lando Norris suffers cruel late retirement as Oscar Piastri wins Dutch Grand Prix
F1 standings after Dutch GP as Oscar Piastri extends lead to Lando Norris
When is the next F1 race? Italian GP 2025 schedule and how to watch Monza race
‘I didn’t know where to go’: Meet the luckless F2 champions unable to land an F1 seat
Cadillac add IndyCar star to F1 ranks for debut season in 2026
