Lando Norris reveals championship doubts during Oscar Piastri win streak

Lando Norris has admitted he held doubts over his chances of winning the F1 title this year amid his early-season struggles.

The Briton entered the season as the favourite for the championship following a strong end of the 2024 campaign, but found himself being outpaced by team-mate Oscar Piastri.

This included a run of three races in Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and Miami, where Piastri took to the top step of the podium to stretch out an advantage in the title race.

Norris' deficit increased dramatically with a non-finish at Zandvoort, however since then, he has finished ahead of Piastri at every grand prix.

With a dominant victory last time out in Mexico, Norris returned to the head of the F1 standings for the first time since April, putting his title fight back on track.

When asked if he ever doubted himself this year, Norris told Sky F1: “At times, at the beginning of the year, I certainly did.

“I never want to blame my car. When the car was winning and Oscar was winning, the last thing I could do was use the excuse that my car was not good enough.

“I wasn't getting up to grips and wasn't finding a way to make it work. I'm finding a better way to make it work now.

“It’s as simple as that. Of course, it gives you good confidence. One race, really, I don't care about. One race performing well, I don't think means anything.

“Two, three, four in a row does. The last few months have been good.”

While Piastri still remains a considerable threat in the championship, Red Bull's Max Verstappen has also closed the gap in recent rounds and now lingers just 36 points adrift of Norris.

Norris is all too aware of the threat Verstappen will pose to McLaren in the final four rounds.

“Max has still caught me,” he said. “I’ve had one good weekend now, but Max has still caught me over the last few months.

“I still want to keep my head down.”