Norris takes to McLaren simulator to overcome mistakes of F1 2025 title fight

Lando Norris is confident of reigniting his 2025 Formula 1 title challenge having dived into McLaren's simulator to overcome the mistakes of recent weeks.

Norris won the 2025 Melbourne opener, but on balance last season's runner-up has struggled to gel with McLaren's new car, which has undergone substantial changes compared to 2024 to stay ahead of the curve.

His team-mate Oscar Piastri, meanwhile, has moved in the other direction, finding more consistency to transform himself into a bona fide title contender, having won three out of the first five grands prix.

Piastri's second consecutive win of the season in Saudi Arabia saw the Australian take a slender 10-point lead over Norris in the standings.

But Norris dismissed suggestions that Piastri's frightening form is something to worry about, as he backed himself to get back on par soon.

"No, not worried at all. He's doing a good job, and he deserves it," said Norris ahead of this weekend’s Miami Grand Prix.

Lando Norris, McLaren

Photo by: Sam Bagnall / Motorsport Images

"I don't believe so much in the momentum stuff, just my opinion. But I'm doing what I can. Clearly, I've made some mistakes and not at the level I need to be. But I believe I can be at the level soon enough, so no reason to be worried.

"It's round six of 24. I'm not going to say that forever. I know I need to get a move on, and I need to get into gear a little bit. But the speed is there, the pace is there.

“The race pace is definitely there. It's just one thing I need to tidy up. And it's a difficult thing. But I'm confident that I'll get it."

What Norris is doing to get back on top

McLaren has shouldered its fair share of responsibility on ensuring Norris is hitting his stride again with the MCL39, which looks set to require both technical tweaks from the team and driving style adjustments from the Briton to overcome.

Norris says his time in the squad's simulator has been largely dedicated to ironing out his pain points.

"It was a productive couple of weeks," the five-time grand prix winner explained. "That doesn't mean a lot of stuff has changed for this weekend.

Oscar Piastri, McLaren

Photo by: Lars Baron - Motorsport Images

“It's not like things are going to magically work as I would love, but there's a lot more understanding of what could have affected things, and what maybe didn't.

"The majority of my simulator work was based upon that and trying to understand some of these things, which is good.

“But then it's about understanding them further, knowing what measures you can take to start changing things on the car and what you want to put resources into."

Rather than relying on McLaren's upgrades, which are likely to arrive as the F1 season hits Europe in the coming weeks, Norris says he must find the majority of the solutions himself.

"I certainly think [upgrades] will help," he said. "But I also don't want to just rely on that. There are also things I'm trying to work on separately, and hopefully that's a better fix than waiting for the bits to come."