‘Mentally weak’ Lando Norris a target of scathing criticism from F1 legend as Oscar Piastri picked as title favourite

Australian F1 legend, Alan Jones, has called out Lando Norris’ mentally weak demeanor as he’s backed Oscar Piastri as the driver that can win the title this season. Jones is the last driver from Australia to win the title, even though Mark Webber came very close to winning it in 2010.

McLaren has continued to build on its momentum from last season and built a car that is possibly a step ahead of everything that the rivals have put together this season. As a result, what we have is a scenario where there is massive potential for the title being fought between Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris.

The season began on a positive note from Lando Norris as he won the race in Australia. Since then, however, the driver has struggled on track, making mistakes that aid teammate Oscar Piastri, who has himself taken a step forward compared to 2024. You add all that, and we have the Australian with 3 wins in five races.

At the same time, Oscar Piastri has taken over the championship lead from Lando Norris as well. Talking about the title battle and the manner in which Oscar Piastri has surged, Alan Jones gave a brutal verdict about Lando Norris as he said that the British driver is a mentally weak person. On Fox Sports’ ‘The Back Page’, Jones backed the young Australian to win the title this season as he said,

“The first person you’ve got to beat is your team-mate. He [Piastri] can do it (become World Champion) this year, no question. At the end of the day, his team-mate is weak.”

He added,

“His team-mate is quite quick, there’s no doubt about that. But mentally, I think he’s quite a weak person. He’s coming out with all this nonsense that he’s got a bit of a mental thing, he’s dwelling on some of the problems he’s had rather than the positives.”

Lando Norris ‘talking all that nonsense’

The first two seasons of Oscar Piastri’s career have seen the balance be more towards Lando Norris in terms of performance, but that has shifted this season, and we’re looking at an improved version of the driver.

Jones pointed out how when Norris starts talking about the mental stuff, it is a sign of weakness, and now it’s on Oscar to pounce, just like he has been doing in the car this year. He said,

“When they start talking all that nonsense, you know you’ve got them. He is without a doubt a future World Champion. He’s come out of almost nowhere and he’s got all the attributes that you need to be a World Champion.”

There is a 10-point gap between the McLaren duo going into Miami. A lot will depend on how Norris bounces back from his struggles this weekend.

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Charanjot is an F1 writer and Content Specialist at Sportskeeda with over 5 years of experience covering news, trends, and analyses related to the sport.

He started watching F1 when Narain Karthikeyan made his F1 debut in 2005 and was hooked when Kimi Raikkonen delivered a stunning lap in Monaco in the same season. He has been with the firm for almost 4 years and tries his best to put his links in the F1 paddock to the best use so as to report relevant and accurate information.

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If given a chance, he would like for India’s Buddh International Circuit to be added back to the calendar. A Mechanical engineer and an MBA, Charanjot aims to spearhead the cause of making F1 a mainstream sport in India. Apart from F1, he also follows MotoGP, cricket and MMA.

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