Lando Norris makes 'tough' Oscar Piastri title fight prediction

Lando Norris expects his "tough" F1 drivers' championship fight with Oscar Piastri to continue once the season resumes after the summer break.

The McLaren driver highlighted the already "pretty small margins" between the pair, with his team-mate holding a slim, nine-point advantage in the standings with 10 rounds of the campaign left to run.

Whilst Norris was the quicker driver last year, Piastri has made strides in qualifying pace and with his race pace, making them a perilously close match.

The Australian has six victories to the 25-year-old's five, but Norris is still very slightly the faster of the two. Piastri has built his lead through minimising errors, which has been an issue for his team-mate.

However, the eight-time grand prix winner has come close to mistakes of his own in recent rounds, with two near-misses in Austria and Hungary, underlining the parity between them.

"I think it's already tough, and it's going to continue to be tough," Norris told media, including RacingNews365, when asked about how difficult the second 'half' of the campaign will be. "It's pretty small margins between us.

"I'm sure there's some things I can do better on and improve on, and I'm sure he'll probably say a similar thing.

"So, it's going to be a good and tough battle probably till the end. It takes a lot out of you trying to focus so much for every single session, race, everything."

Despite having won three of the past four grands prix to reduce his arrears from the 22 points it was after the Canadian Grand Prix, Norris believes he has not made life "very easy" for himself.

He highlighted that if he can eradicate those mistakes, like the race-ending collision he suffered in Montreal, he will be better positioned for the run in.

"So, it's going be a long second half of the season, I'm sure... [I will] try and come back even better because there are those things I need to improve on and want to improve on," the nine-time grand prix winner explained.

"I'm not giving myself the best opportunities. Even though the results have looked great, I'm not making my life very easy for myself at the minute. So if I can work on those things, then I'll be in a better place."

Piastri echoed his team-mate's sentiment, as predicted, adding he feels it will be a captivating fight between them.

"Yeah, very much the same," the 24-year-old said. "I think it's going to be a tough second half of the year.

"It has been tough already, and the margins are very fine. So, I think it's going to be great watching."

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