Lando Norris vs Oscar Piastri tipped to be the “next big head-to-head” in F1 2025
"It is about him, and he doesn’t care about anyone else. That is what he has to take into a fresh season in which McLaren will start as favourites."
Ex-F1 driver Johnny Herbert expects the intra-team rivalry at McLaren to be the “big head-to-head” in 2025.
McLaren secured their first F1 constructors’ title since 1998 as they narrowly finished ahead of Ferrari in this year's championship.
While Lando Norris generally had an edge over Oscar Piastri throughout the year, there were still a number of tense moments between the pair.
In Hungary, Piastri overtook Norris at the start but lost out through the second round of pit stops.
This then forced McLaren to order Norris to move over for Piastri, which the Brit was initially reluctant to do.
At Monza, Piastri attacked Norris on the opening lap, causing the latter to lose out to eventual race winner Charles Leclerc.
McLaren publicly announced Piastri’s role would be to assist Norris from Azerbaijan onwards.
Their variance in form meant that Piastri didn’t have to move over for Norris until the sprint, but the latter repaid the favour in the Qatar Saturday race.
Speaking to CoinPoker, Herbert sees the battle between Norris and Piastri being one of 2025’s hot storylines.
“He [Piastri] has the right attitude,” he said. “It is about him, and he doesn’t care about anyone else. That is what he has to take into a fresh season in which McLaren will start as favourites.
“He has Mark Webber as his manager. Oscar knows what he needs to do. If he comes out of the blocks dominating, then he will be in a very good place, but I don’t think Lando is going to allow that. Lando has been magnificent in his qualifying performances and has still raced brilliantly.
“The competition will push the pair of them. I like Oscar’s strong mindset. The next big head-to-head next season is going to be between Oscar and Lando! McLaren will dominate ahead of Red Bull, then Ferrari and Mercedes.”
A big year for Piastri
After a strong rookie season, Piastri struggled to truly build on it, particularly in qualifying during his sophomore year.
Piastri was only able to out-qualify Norris on four occasions across 24 races.
His best work was on race day.
While Piastri lacks Norris’s outright pace, his wheel-to-wheel ability and composure in key moments earned him a number of big results.
He will need to up his game in qualifying – and raw pace in general – if he’s going to be a serious threat to Norris.
With a sharp eye for F1’s controversies and storylines, Connor is the heartbeat of our unbiased reporting.
