Lando Norris reveals plot to hand Oscar Piastri latest major defeat

Lando Norris says he will be relying on "magic" to try and hand Oscar Piastri defeat and possibly seize control of the F1 world championship. 

Piastri starts on pole for the Dutch Grand Prix, with the pole-sitter having won on every visit to Zandvoort since F1 returned in 2021, with the Australian just 0.012s faster than his team-mate having been behind throughout practice.

Norris trails Piastri by nine points in the standings, knowing that if he wins and Piastri is third or lower, the Briton will re-assume the lead of the championship he lost in Bahrain. 

However, with the pair so closely matched on race pace, Norris believes some divine inspiration must come his way to leapfrog the sister MCL39 at some point during the 72 lap race.

"I mean, yeah — no offence to Max — he was in a much slower car last year, so that helped a lot," Norris began to tell media, including RacingNews365, when asked if he could overtake Piastri in a similar manner to how he did Verstappen in 2024 to win.

"Oscar’s in a much quicker car this year, and the hardest guy to normally overtake is your team-mate, especially when in a qualifying like this where we were split by 0.012s.

"I mean, it’s going to take some magic, some good strategy or incredible tyre saving or something, but it’s normally pretty difficult to overtake in the first place.

"It’s even harder to do that behind your team-mate. So, I’ll see what I can dream of [overnight].

"I would have loved to be on pole, that’s the thing that would have made me the happiest. But it’s been close all weekend. 

"You just look at the results, and I’ve been ahead [through practice], but I easily could have been behind by just losing half a tenth or a tenth here and there, so it’s not like I’ve dominated it. 

"I’ve just been ever so slightly ahead, and it’s just switched the other way around for quali, but I still am confident for the race pace.

"But I also know my main competitor is the guy ahead of me, of course, we always put the plan together, but with the other side and with Oscar and everything. 

"So, it’s always a little bit trickier to beat that one guy, but it’s a long race. We’ll see what we can do."