Piastri puts the pressure on Norris: 'Virtually nothing between them'

With George Russell's disqualification, Piastri was promoted to finishing second in Belgium, whilst his teammate finished P5 behind Max Verstappen. Although Piastri was unable to win, nine-time Le Mans winner Tom Kristensen, was impressed with his performance against the two Mercedes. "Piastri was strong here. We already learned that last year in his first year with McLaren. He was very strong here at Spa," he said. With Norris losing three positions in Turn 1, it was the Australian's responsibility to bring home a trophy, as Kristensen identified. "As a driver in a team, he was the only one up there at the very front. And I thought he was going to get closer, but as the race got halfway, I already could see that Lewis Hamilton would win it at the same point." 

Should Norris be concerned? 

Neverthless, Norris' recent performances have been called into question. In Hungary, despite starting on pole, he also lost positions in Turn 1, which allowed Piastri to pass, and also take home his maiden F1 win. "I think he'll [Norris] be kicking himself because after qualifying on pole in Hungary, losing the lead in lap one, and looking at the stats of his lap one, they've not been very good recently. So he'll definitely be very annoyed by that," Aston-Martin reserve driver, and Maserati MSG Formula E driver, Stoffel Vandoorne said. 

Whilst Norris has had a few issues, Piastri has continued to improve. Although the pair have worked together to bring McLaren into second place in the Constructors, just 32 points separate the two in the Drivers' standings now too. "He has definitely made a good step in the last couple of races. And I think up until the few races ago, that's probably the area [tyre management] he was lacking still a little bit compared to Lando. But in the recent races, there was virtually nothing between both of them in the race conditions," Vandoorne added.