For much of the first half of the 2025 Formula One season, the McLaren garage has been the scene of a polite but increasingly pointed civil war. On one side, the cool-headed, data-loving Oscar Piastri, who treats the championship like a mathematical equation he is patiently solving. On the other, Lando Norris, the mercurial Brit with a tendency to light up a race one week and set it on fire (metaphorically and occasionally literally) the next.

At times, it looked as though Norris’s title challenge would fade before it truly began. Piastri’s clean weekends and error-free consistency contrasted sharply with Norris’s occasional lapses — those small but costly mistakes that seem harmless in the moment yet pile up like unclaimed baggage at Heathrow. Against the backdrop of a mentally unshakable Australian, some feared Norris’s more emotive style would crumble under sustained pressure.

And yet, as the circus rolled into Hungary, the narrative shifted. Norris had already taken commanding wins in Austria and at his home Grand Prix at Silverstone. Piastri replied with victory in Belgium, but Norris came straight back in Budapest. That win came despite a sluggish getaway that dropped him from third to fifth in the opening laps — proof, perhaps, that the Norris of mid-season 2025 is made of sterner stuff. As the dust settled on the Hungaroring, he found himself just nine points behind his team-mate heading into the summer break.

 

Johnny Herbert sees something new in Norris

Former F1 driver and current pundit Johnny Herbert was quick to spot the change. In fact, he was so impressed with Norris’s Hungarian performance that he messaged the driver’s father directly: “That’s amazing!” he told Adam Norris, perhaps to reassure him that his son’s career was not about to be turned into another Netflix tragedy arc.

Speaking to Grosvenor Casino, Herbert praised Norris’s recovery after the poor start and his ability to control the race thereafter. The key to victory was a bold one-stop strategy, with Norris coaxing 40 laps out of the hard tyres after his service. Herbert admitted he had been a nervous spectator: “I was a little worried when he put on the hard tyres and set the fastest laps. I was sitting by the TV saying, ‘Don’t break them, don’t overheat them!’”

The result was especially satisfying for Norris’s camp, Herbert said, given the “many criticisms of his performance, his racing ability, and his consistency.” As Herbert put it: “He turned that around.”

 

The nervous Norris has left the building

Herbert’s most striking observation was that the “old” Norris — the one who sometimes let his emotions cloud his racing — appears to be gone.

“The hyper-nervous Norris from the early stages of his career is completely gone,” Herbert insisted. “Even the bubbly Lando we may have seen at the beginning of the year is gone.” Instead, Herbert described a more measured, professional approach, pointing to Norris’s calm demeanour in the post-race cool-down room.

“There was a completely different mentality that he brings into the cockpit now because he knows how important it is for the World Championship,” Herbert concluded.

McLaren’s Secret Weapon Exposed

 

From hot-headed to hard-headed

For those who have followed Norris since his debut, this is no small transformation. Early-career Lando could occasionally be counted on to overthink a bad pit stop or let frustration boil over in the team radio, often to the delight of Drive to Survive editors. But Budapest showed something different — a driver able to take a poor start, shrug off the setback, and methodically work his way back into control without letting the adrenaline dictate every decision.

McLaren insiders suggest the change may stem from the team’s deliberate handling of its two young stars. Unlike Red Bull’s Verstappen–Perez dynamic, which functions more like a monarch and his loyal squire, McLaren has publicly encouraged fair fights and mutual respect. Zak Brown has been careful to keep tensions in check, reminding both drivers that championships are won over 24 races, not one spectacular overtake gone wrong.

And yet, the satirical observer might note, there is only so long two highly competitive, title-chasing drivers can smile sweetly across the garage before someone “accidentally” brakes a fraction too late. For now, Piastri and Norris insist that their rivalry is healthy, even cordial. But history tells us that in Formula One, “healthy rivalry” is often just a polite way of saying “there’s a storm brewing.”

McLaren plan for their driver who loses the driver’s title

 

A championship fight worth staying awake for

While the rest of the grid tries to keep up, the Norris–Piastri battle has become the real draw of 2025. The constructors’ title already looks wrapped in papaya paper, but the drivers’ crown is still up for grabs. McLaren now faces the deliciously awkward task of letting its drivers race without letting them wreck each other.

This is the sort of intra-team fight that can define careers. Just ask Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton, whose Mercedes feud from 2014–2016 was part soap opera, part demolition derby. Or remember Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna, who redefined “teamwork” as “a daily psychological cage match.”

The difference is that both Norris and Piastri know the modern F1 audience — and sponsors — like their heroes relatable, marketable, and not constantly under investigation by the FIA. The public face may stay friendly, but you can bet the late-night mental math each driver is doing about points gaps and pit windows is anything but gentle.

Ferrari’s newest upgrade gamble for Hamilton

 

Where does this go next?

The nine-point margin is tantalising. One mistake, one safety car at the wrong time, one badly timed coffee spill during qualifying — it could all swing either way. Norris’s current form suggests the momentum is with him, but Piastri has shown he can absorb pressure without flinching. If Norris’s “mental shift” holds, we could be looking at one of the closest McLaren inter-team title fights since the days of Lauda and Prost in the 1980s.

For now, Norris heads into the summer break as a driver transformed — or at least, that is the consensus from Herbert and other experts. The rest of us will be watching to see if this transformation holds once the championship stakes climb even higher in the second half of the season.

What say you, jury? Is Lando Norris truly a changed man, now ready to outlast the metronome-like consistency of Oscar Piastri? Or will the pressure cook back up and bring back the Lando of old — quick, charismatic, but occasionally combustible? Drop your verdict in the comments below and let’s put this to trial.

We’re trying to grow a new online F1 community where verdicts like yours can fuel the debate. Join the TJ13 Jury Room on Facebook and be part of the discussion: https://www.facebook.com/groups/708095665600791. And if you want to keep up with all the latest news, satire, and insider gossip from the paddock, follow the main TJ13 Facebook page here: https://www.facebook.com/TheJudge13.

 

MORE F1 NEWS – F1 supremo again calls for F1 reverse grids

Since the commercial rights to Formula One were acquired by Liberty Media, the sport has grown in an almost unimaginable fashion. The number of sponsors and partners for the teams has almost doubled in less than a decade, together with a dramatic increase in TV audiences.

In the USA, the TV viewers have now doubled, since those recorded in 2017, with F1 now regularly beating the North American single seater Indycar audience and its now closing the gap to the fanatically supported NASCAR racing series to under a million viewers last time out in Hungary.

The number of race weekends has been increased under Liberty from the regular 19-20 events a year to the maximum agreed 24. Sprint race weekends were also introduced in 2021 which have since been increased from three each year to the current level of six…. READ MORE