McLaren’s Lando Norris still believes he can beat team-mate Oscar Piastri to the 2025 Formula 1 title without any drama to even out his own Zandvoort retirement.

Norris lost a certain second place at last week’s Dutch Grand Prix when his smoking McLaren ground to a halt with seven laps to go, allowing race winner Piastri to race 34 points clear in the drivers’ standings.

Norris still has nine race weekends to make up ground on his Australian team-mate, although that means he has to find a way to consistently beat Piastri and reverse a trend in which the Australian had a slight edge in recent races.

McLaren’s dominance will also make it tougher for the Briton to make huge inroads without Piastri suffering any misfortune of his own to settle the score, but the 25-year-old still believes he can get the job done in a straight fight to the finish line in Abu Dhabi.

“I can still win the championship without anything happening and that’s the way I wish to do it,” Norris insisted. “It would certainly make my life easier if there were just some more drivers in between every now and then.

Lando Norris, McLaren, Oscar Piastri, McLaren

Photo by: Joe Portlock / LAT Images via Getty Images

“The thing is, we’re so dominant as a team that it almost makes my life harder. So, that’s really the most frustrating part of it all.”

But there’s no part of Norris that wishes any misfortune on his team-mate to level the score on the reliability front. “No, because in the end, if he’s done a better job, I give credit to him and I say he’s done a better job,” he said. “That’s just how I am. I don’t wish it [upon him].

“May the best driver win, and if that’s the case at the end of the season then I’ll respect that.”

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