Lando Norris believes his underliying pace at the 2025 F1 Dutch GP made it a “positive” race, despite the late mechanical failure which forced him out of the grand prix and handed his team-mate and title rival Oscar Piastri a 25-point swing in the world championship.
Norris looked to be in commanding form all weekend, leading every F1 practice session at the Dutch GP – but come qualifying, Piastri was able to beat him by the mere margin of 0.012s. And with the dirty air proving a critical factor in Sunday’s race, that was where the race was won for the Australian, who was always able to keep his team-mate at an arm’s lenght throughout the 65 laps they raced together.
Wanting to “have a burger and go home” after such a disappointment
But disaster struck for him on lap 65, as he reported a strange smell in the cockpit of his McLaren F1, and soon after stopped on track with a suspected oil leak in his MCL39, which forced him to retire from what was a comfortable second place finish, and robbed him of a chance of attacking Piastri in the closing stages.
Speaking to Sky Sports after the race, the Briton unsurprisingly didn’t want to resent his unlucky day too much.
“I just want to go have a burger and go home,” he lamented.
Underlying pace a “positive” in an otherwise “unlucky” weekend
Norris instead focused on the positive that he was able to stay very close to his McLaren F1 team-mate despite the dirty air, which made for an “impressive” race up until that point, as he was expectating to be at least “five seconds” behind given how badly the dirty air affected the cars at the Dutch GP:
“The pace is there, [and] I was quick today,” he said. “It’s impossible to overtake here. A good race today, and all I was really hoping for was to stay within five seconds for the most part of the race. I was happy that I could stay within one and a half, two for the majority. I think it doesn’t look it, but that’s an impressive race around here from our side, with how much dirty air and [how] you struggle with the tyres and tyre temperatures when following.
“It was a positive race, but it didn’t mean anything.
“I couldn’t get past. Oscar [Piastri] drove a good race. He deserved it today, but [it was] just not my weekend. Unlucky yesterday with the fight for pole, unlucky today, but that’s life.
“That’s why I just take it on the chin and move on.“
How he will look to bounce back going forward
When asked how he he will look to bounce back from such a disappointment, the 8-time grand prix winner didn’t hide his frustration with the gap to Piastri balooning to 34 points instead of just the 16 it would be for a second place – but guaranteed that he will keep fighting and doing “everything” to become world champion:
“We’ll wait and see [how I bounce back]. It is frustrating. It’s not like I’m happy about today,” he said. “It hurts to lose 25 points outright, it would have been whatever it was, 18 [points] for second place, so a seven-point deficit.
“It would have been smaller, but I just have to keep fighting, keep doing what I can. I was quick today.
“I thought I could fight for a win, [and] if you’re fighting for a win around here, that’s normally just a good job already. So I take the positives, I look on and I try to bounce back.
“I’ve got tough competition, so it’s never going to be easy, but I’ll really make sure I do everything I can.”
With just nine rounds remaining of the 2025 F1 season after the Dutch GP, Norris now stands on 275 points, 34 less than Piastri who reached 309 after winning in Zandvoort.
