Parc Ferme: The sword of Piastri

How the world changes in just a few years. Back in 2021/22, Norris regularly outperformed his teammate Daniel Ricciardo in qualifying and race finishes.

Back then, Ricciardo was an established grand prix winner, and the young Brit was just a cheeky noob. A situation that no doubt contributed to Zak Brown letting him go for another antipodean, albeit un-blooded.

Now it’s Lando’s turn to feel the heat of a teammate whose talent is matched only by his confidence.

If you haven’t been watching, Norris is now regularly bested by his less-experienced colleague. There’s no comparison to the manner in which he trounced Ricciardo.

However, being in his exhaust smoke, both figuratively in the F1 Drivers' Standings and physically on track, is painful. Being unable to present outside interference as a defense makes it more painful.

To be fair to Lando, it hasn’t been for the want of trying. He’s upped his game without a doubt. Unfortunately, the young pretender has matched him move for move.

As qualifying so often proves, the two are without a doubt neck and neck over one lap. Even during the race, Lando seems to be able to outpace Piastri for brief periods.

However, a race is usually over a long distance, and when it comes to the essence of fighting for position—driver-on-driver dicing—Piastri naturally has two things that Lando must develop: Control and the manipulative racing tactics of a winner.

He also has the advantage of having Mark Webber. While Lando is looking at data, I suspect Piastri is discussing with the ex-F1 driver, now manager, tactics to nutmeg his opponents and manage the race from the front.

It’s notable from the radio comms that Lando's race engineer is trying to “coach” him. However, that kind of help is probably not what he needs and may well be counterproductive.

Think of it this way: you know you’ve just “monkeyed” your braking, when your well-meaning race engineer announces your shortcomings to ‘the world and his wife’. Great information for the guy in front, or the one chasing behind and even for the thickest of skins, momentarily distracting for the driver in question.

In contrast, we hear nothing like that for Piastri and more often than not it’s his engineer asking for guidance from him.

The ability to manage pressure is not handed out in equal amounts. Where Oscar Piastri is a cool, silent pool, Lando is a bubbly, warm jacuzzi. It’s difficult for either of them to behave outside of their nature.

Piastri’s delivery of that F1 winning drivers cliché of “Let’s go!’ at the end of the last race was almost comical and a prime example.

Deadpan, and just not him. More than likely, it was something a PR advisor probably told him to say to make him seem a little more colourful.

Nothing is going to change for Lando overnight, and it might be prudent for him to start focusing on 2026 and what he needs to do to beat his teammate.

He could do worse than talk to Nico Rosberg and ask him what he had to do to beat Lewis Hamilton in 2016. Ultimately, he could use a wily old fox to guide him on the race craft side of the competition… Is Fernando Alonso free?