Hill on Norris v Piastri strengths and weaknesses

They might have tried, but Hollywood couldn’t have scripted it any better.

The Formula 1 title race is perfectly poised going into the final three races of the season.

McLaren team-mates Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri are separated by just 24 points – in Norris’ favour – with a maximum of 83 still available.

Damon Hill, F1 World Champion (for Williams in 1996) and BBC 5 Live pundit, knows what it is like to feel the pressure of an impending title decider.

«When you’re fighting for a championship, the mental strain is huge. You want the answer now, but you have to stay in the present and focus on the next race.

«Thinking about the end result is dangerous – it distracts you,» he says.

Here, Hill reflects on – and rates – some of the strengths and weaknesses we have all witnessed across this season between the two hard-charging contenders…

«If we’re talking about this year, Lando’s results might have been affected by the car set-up not suiting him early on. On sheer speed, he’s quick if he gets it together, but he often struggled to deliver when needed.

«There’s very little between him and Oscar – hundredths of a second. A 10th was a big gap. They had a strong car advantage, so small differences didn’t hurt much. Later in the season, Max Verstappen got in the mix, which complicated things for Lando when he didn’t qualify on the front row.

«Lando has improved his qualifying recently, which boosted his confidence. We’ve seen bigger gaps in recent races [with Lando ahead of Piastri] for guys in the same car, which might have baffled Oscar and led him to overdrive a bit.»

Norris: 8/10

Piastri: 8/10

«Oscar was probably more consistent early in the year, while Lando improved.

«Lando gave away points with poor starts at the beginning of the season, so you’d have to downgrade him a little bit. Early on, Oscar was quite decisive and undertook some brave moves when he had to.

«At the start, Oscar was more of a clean-cut overtaker. But he’s had problems in some races. Lando was not so decisive and maybe showed signs of being too cautious, and that got him into difficulty.

«Somewhere there’s been a bit of a switch, and Baku seems to have been a turning point for Oscar – a shock to the system. Mark [Webber, Piastri’s manager] was saying he’d never taken a corner off in junior formulas, which is remarkable in itself – but he’s certainly taken a few corners off recently.

«At the beginning of a race Oscar has [recently] allowed anxiety to become a factor. Lando is now doing a better job in the early part of grands prix. But overall across the season I would score it differently.»

Norris: 7/10

Piastri: 8/10

«I’ve seen some pretty bold and well calculated moves from Oscar, and still Lando seems less comfortable about taking those risks.

«Oscar still looks more confident in wheel-to-wheel racing. Singapore was an example where Lando took a big risk. It paid off, but wasn’t pretty.

«In Brazil, ironically, it was Oscar who got a penalty for nudging Antonelli, but at least he went for it.»

Norris: 7/10

Piastri: 8/10

«Lando impressed in Brazil when it was wet and you had to stay off the kerbs. Oscar tripped up there.

«But I don’t think we’ve seen a Senna-esque race in the wet or a Hamilton-level performance from either of them yet.

«I might be overlooking something. There’s not been a race where either driver said: ‘Watch me, I’ll show you how to do it.'»

Norris: 8/10

Piastri: 8/10

«Always an interesting one. For me, that’s easy: Lando. He’s shown patience when needed and seems very comfortable managing tyres.

«It’s a really subtle thing. Listening to Andrea Stella after Mexico, Lando seemed comfortable working with the tyre when it [started to] slide a bit and maintained balance.

«Oscar might have struggled with that technique, I think. I don’t know if anyone can teach that – it’s an innate skill which Lando has and he’s able to find that.

«Think of it if it was a hole on a golf course; they talk about the hole being like a bucket – some people see it bigger than others. Lando sees it as a bigger area he can work in and he’s able to move around in that area a little better.»

Norris: 9/10

Piastri: 8/10

«Based on what I’ve heard from engineers, Tom Stallard says Oscar is particularly good at sensing things that are technical.

«I get the impression Lando is not as bothered – he might be quite happy to leave it to the engineers, and I get the impression Oscar wants to know ‘why’ more.»

Norris: 8/10

Piastri: 9/10

«This one’s tricky. Early in the year, Lando was weaker, Oscar was stronger. Now it’s the other way round. Lando’s had longer to recover because he lost the lead early and had time to recover.

«Oscar only recently lost his lead [in the title race], and that’s a whole lot more mental somersaulting to do – to get your head around what is really happening and to bounce back. We haven’t seen it yet – we saw a little bit of one in Brazil. He made the best of a bad job but didn’t get the points he needs. He’s still scratching his head a bit.

«Lando has upped his game, which takes commitment. Oscar is younger and less experienced, and he seems to be struggling more now.

«Mark Webber even talked in terms of he’s had to put an arm around Oscar’s shoulder – he’s six months younger than Lando and had a few less seasons at it. Lando’s more able to shrug it off, it seems.

«They will both be going though turmoil – there’s a lot of things to deal with mentally when you’re getting to the end of a world championship.»

Norris: 9/10

Piastri: 7/10