Five key moments that cost Lando Norris F1 championship lead

Five key moments have♕ led to Lando Norris losing his grip at the top of the F1 world championship.

Lando Norris
Lando Norris

When 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:Lando Norris took the chequered flag first to win the season-opening Australian Grand Prix, he had lived up to his billing as the favourite for the 2025 F1 world title.

Things couldn’t have got off to a better start. Norris converted pole position into a victory with an outstanding drive that put him top of the world championship standings, and he appeared to have eve꧙rything going his way.

Fast-forward four races later and things have dramatically changed, with the 25-𝓰year-old Briton having been usurped by his McLaren teammate an♛d battling confidence issues in his car.

Norris has slipped to second in the championship table and fallen 10 points adrift of 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:Oscar Piastri, who has mom🐼entum on his side having made a convincing case to be McLaren’s lead driver.

What’s more, Norris is only three points clear of Red Bull’s 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:Max Verstappen and looks like a driver who is starti🌜ng to feel 𒅌the pressure and weight of expectation on his shoulders.

It is still only early days in the 2025 F1 title race, but a combination of bad luck and driver mistakes have alreaꦑdy proven to be major blows for Norris.

Here are t🐼he key moments that have cost him the lead in the world championship…

Poor China sprint

After his flying start to the season with maximum points in Melbourne, things did notꦑ go so smoothly in China.

Piastri qualified third for the sprint race while Norris appeared to be on target for pole until a mistake forced him to𝓀 abort his lap and left him only sixth on the grid. 

Norris went on to endure a difficult race and could only salvage a point in the end as he finished eighth. Piastri claimed second, while Verstappen took third, with both outscoring Norris in the proc🀅ess.

Chinese GP brake issues

Norris battled brake issues in China
Norris battled brake issues in China

Another mistake on a qualifying lap cost Norris and enabled 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:George Russell to sneak his Mercedes between the two McLarens as Piastri took pole for the main grand pri🌌x.

Norris got ahead of Ru꧋ssell in the race to complete a dominant 1-2 for McLaren but felt “lucky” to finish after encountering a brake issue in the closing stages.

Norris was just three seconds behind Piastri 𝓡at the chequered flag and only 1.3s clear of Russell as he nursed his McLaren home. He potentially missed out on a chance to put his teammate under pressure when his brake pedal went “lꦯong” and dropped 13 points to Piastri over the course of the weekend.

Poor qualifying and false start in Bahrain

Norris got the better of Piastri in Japan as McLaren were forced to settle with P2 and P3 behind Verstappen, but the pendulum of momentum swung once again in Bahraಌin.

Norris was left deflated and frustrated after struggling to sixth in qua♉lifying on a day Piastri claimed another pole. He seemed to make amends immediately by climbing to third with a brilliant start in the race only to be hit with a five-second time penalty for being 🌃ahead of his grid slot.

Norris ultimately recovered to third but his slow progress getting past the Ferraris of 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:Lewis Hamilton and 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:Charles Leclerc hurt him, while he could not find a way past Russell’s Mercedes despite having the quicker car in an uncharacteristicaℱlly scrappy perform🔜ance.

With th♍e car at his disposal, Norris knew he really should have finished at least second behind Piastri.

Piastri closed the gap on Norris in Bahrain
Piastri closed the gap on Norris in Bahrain

Qualifying shunt in Jeddah

The biggest mistake of Norris𝔍’s campaign so far came in qualifying in Jeddah.

Norris arrived in Saudi Arabia with a three-point lead over Piastri but gave himself a huge task after losing control of his McLaren ⭕and smashing into the barriers, leavin🎐g him only 10th on the grid.

A brilli🦂ant l🍎ap from Verstappen saw him pip Piastri to pole by just 0.010s.

Held up behind Lewis Hamilton

It took Norris three laps to get past Hamilton
It took Norris three laps to get past Hamilton

Norris would go on to turn in a strong recovery effort to finish fourth by using an off-set tyre strategy, but with Piastri beating Verstappen to the win, he would𝓡 relinquish the world championship lead for the first time.

Norris took a long time to work out how to overtake Hamilton’s Ferrari and lost three important laps in the process, which may well have prevented him from c🔯hallenging fo▨r a podium.

He caught the other Ferrari of Leclerc in the closing stages but his mಞedium tyres were past their best an💖d he fell just over a second adrift at the end as more points went begging. 

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