Villeneuve: Norris has the pace but Piastri is playing the game better

The ESPN+ Free Trial analysis of the Canadian Grand Prix collision continues as McLaren prepare for this weekend’s Austrian Grand Prix. After 10 rounds, Piastri arrives in Spielberg 22 points ahead of Norris in the standings after surviving the Montreal collision to finish P4, while Norris recorded a DNF for his shenanigans.

Villeneuve told the media team at BetVictor: “There are the rules, there's the intention, and then there's what happened in the end,. Was that a clever move from Lando? No, it wasn't. Even though he had the right to go there, it was wrong because he ended up crashing and he should have expected that Piastri would ease to the left continuously.

"It's the same thing. If you cross at a green light, and a car runs you over, it doesn't matter that you were right to cross. You still don’t want to get run over.”

Villeneuve argued that Norris misread the moment entirely, saying the Briton had more to lose than gain: “He should have read the situation much better. As he is fighting for the championship, my guess was that he wanted to get [Kimi] Antonelli as well. He had a lot of speed and Lando would have overtaken Oscar the next lap or the one after, but would have missed Antonelli. That is why he went so quickly."

“It is easy for us on the outside with the outside camera like a video game to see that there was no room," ventured Villeneuve and added, "You have to put yourself in the driver’s perspective. He couldn't see that he was gradually going towards the left and that he was going to run out of road. And you can hear it. As soon as he pulled out, you can hear him lift it from the gas. It's too late. So, he really misjudged it.”

Praising Piastri's awareness, Villeneuve said: “Oscar did it very cleverly because he was gradually moving towards the left, more than on any other lap. So, he was gradually pushing him off, but in such a gentle manner that it looks like he didn't do it on purpose. Some drivers are amazing at that and Oscar has got that going for him. And it might give him the championship.”

He compared the moment to a similar collision between Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton, both then at McLaren, at the same spot. “It is not the first time we have seen it on that track. But Lando should have seen it coming.”

Villeneuve was equally critical of the lack of action from officials in Montreal two Sundays ago: “The regulations say a driver cannot push a person or block a person off the track. But when a person is arriving at speed pulling out of a tow, it is too late to start moving when the person is already inches behind you. That happens too often in F1 now and it never gets penalised.

“When he got in the tow he wasn't sure where Piastri would go and he wanted to be on the inside for the braking. I guess he didn't realise that he was so close to the edge of the track and also, the track then starts turning to the right. It was a big misjudgment from Lando," concluded Villeneuve.

Despite the costly (in terms of championship points) incident, Villeneuve believes Norris remains the faster of the two McLaren drivers, but Piastri is handling the psychological side of the title fight better.

“It's not the first time he's made a mistake and then apologised. He has made a few mistakes like that. But at least he is going for it. He was better off against Max than Oscar, his teammate, for some reason. He is having a harder time dealing with the pressure from his teammate because they are in the same car,” said Villeneuve.

“Piastri is sneaky, whilst Max is just aggressive. That’s very different. And he's having a much harder time judging the sneakiness. But Norris still has the pace over Piastri, but Piastri is playing the game a little bit better.”

Villeneuve urged Norris to stop beating himself up or risk undermining his own campaign. “He is only one win behind. Come on. It is nothing. All it needs is for one of the two cars to blow an engine or get caught in an accident at the start and suddenly it’s Lando who is in the lead. There is still a very long way to run.”

He recalled: “Lando could have waited until after the race to review the video before being so hard and negative on himself. The problem now is that he's been so easily negative against himself that people's first reaction, whatever incident it is, will be that it is Lando’s fault.

"He has gotten people used to that. That's something he should be careful with as well because ultimately it always puts him in the grey light or in the negative, even when he isn't. That will play against him in the long run.”

Villeneuve pointed out that while Piastri appears to be gaining an advantage, the Australian still needs to find more speed to stay ahead in the long term: “Piastri knows he has the upper hand, he knows he can play the game better.

"And that's important when you want a championship. But he still needs to get a couple of tenths, he still needs to get that ultimate pace. So maybe that confidence will help him get there now.”

Asked about who has the edge in the title fight, Villeneuve said: “You can’t say. Lando has got the pace, but Oscar is better at handling the game under pressure. Who knows which way it will go during the season? Things might change.”

He warned that the pressures of leading the championship could shift dynamics again. “Because once you end up leading the championship for a while, you don't drive the same way anyway. So maybe Piastri will start making the mistakes that Lando was making early in the season when he was the championship favourite. Psychologically, things change.”

As for potential team orders from McLaren to back Piastri over Norris, Villeneuve’s view was clear: “Maybe not just yet.”