Will Norris make the championship truly exciting after setback in Zandvoort?

A championship fight always has a few highlights, but a real battle between Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri is still nowhere to be seen. Will Norris's retirement in Zandvoort be the turning point in the so far steady championship?

In Zandvoort, the whole Formula 1 circus returned from a few weeks of vacation. Everyone was recharged to give it their all, although there's still something missing: actual tension. Although the difference between Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris is minimal, the title fight doesn't seem to really take off.

This is largely due to the personalities of the two drivers. Both Piastri and Norris adhere to McLaren's plan to race ‘fairly’ with each other under the principle that the best will eventually win. However, this means that highlights for the fans are missing so far.

While every world title fight has a few moments between the two or more drivers fighting for the title, Norris and Piastri remain friendly. One might think they're fighting for a place in the midfield rather than their first world title.

A world championship where things don't go wrong at some point is hard to imagine. Yet, with only nine races to go, nothing has gone wrong so far.

Retirements are no longer a real part of a Formula 1 championship by 2025. The cars and engines have become so reliable that drivers with a good car stand on the podium weekly. Max Verstappen even managed to win 19 of the 22 Grands Prix in 2023.

All-or-nothing for Lando Norris?

Prior to the weekend, the topic of Malaysia 2016 was brought up, at the table at the Dutch media session with Toto Wolff. He reflected on Lewis Hamilton's retirement in that race and its impact on the title fight, Hamilton's mood, and how Mercedes ultimately tried to control it.

Ironically, during the weekend when this topic came up, things went south for Lando Norris. Suddenly, through no fault of his own, he's at an immense disadvantage compared to Oscar Piastri. In a championship where the two have so far delivered small blows to each other, this is suddenly a major blow for Norris.

After the race, however, Norris quickly picked up the pace. He couldn't do much about it and wanted to look forward. Still, one sentence from Norris stood out: ''It's only made it harder for me and put me under more pressure. But it's almost a big enough gap now that I can just chill out about it and just go for it.''

The setback could mean that Norris will take more risks. Try a little more to close the gap with Piastri. However, Norris is bound by the rules of McLaren, and Andrea Stella does not expect any problems with his driver.

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Max Verstappen and Lando Norris in competition in Zandvoort

What McLaren expects from Lando Norris

''When we talk about Lando, he's one of the you know most fair, balanced, in a way I would almost say trustworthy individual before being so as a driver. So when he says he's gonna be full commitment or whatever he said it just means that if anything he will try to extract out of himself even more from his incredible potential.''

''I look forward to seeing what Lando will be conditioned to express because we know that his talent is immense and I'm sure this situation in the championship will give him extra motivation to try and extract it.''

''When it comes to the team, what's important is that the team keeps racing in the same way we have gone racing so far. So staying as neutral as possible, facilitating the pursuit of their own aspirations for Lando and Oscar in a balanced way, in a fair way, in a sportsman -like way.''

''That's what we will continue to do. I don't think there's any change in the approach of the team that is triggered based on the fact that we had this situation in Zandvoort.''

Of course, McLaren hopes to keep the battle between the two drivers under control, but that's exactly what Toto Wolff warned them about. He tried the same with Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg, while the world title for the constructors was already in the bag. For McLaren, that's almost certainly the case now.

One thing is certain: Formula 1 needs some excitement. The championship between Piastri and Norris isn't truly alive because there's also a lack of tension between the two. It's to be hoped for F1 that this setback for Norris will apply just a bit more pressure, giving the championship that cutting edge fans have been craving.

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