Brundle: Norris must be “mortally wounded” Piastri won in F1 before him

Piastri sensationally took his first F1 win - albeit in the sprint - in Qatar, finishing ahead of Max Verstappen.

On the other side of the garage at McLaren, it was a tough weekend for Norris, who threw away pole position twice in Qatar.

“Let’s remember that Oscar Piastri won the Sprint race in Qatar in great style with Max trying to catch him,” Brundle said.

“Their [McLaren’s] new wind tunnel I don’t think will really pay a lot of dividends until 2025, but if they put everything else together well…and remember even a couple of years back there was a sequence of three races [Italy and Russia 2021] where Lando could have won all three of them. 

“So it’s within touching distance and he must be mortally wounded that actually it was Piastri who saw the chequered flag first.”

Brundle does think that the arrival of Piastri has allowed Norris to improve, describing the British driver’s performances in the second half of the season as “outstanding”.

“Oscar Piastri has really sharpened Lando Norris up,” Brundle added.

“Now he has to get on with it a little bit because Piastri has turned up, as a rookie, delivering the high speeds through the really challenging corners, delivering some amazing results.

“Made some rookie errors as well, but I think that’s really driven both drivers on and probably just what Lando needed because I think in the second half of the season, Lando Norris has been outstanding.”