'A fascinating contrast between team-mates and title contenders'

Saudi Arabian Grand Prix

Venue: Jeddah Corniche Circuit Dates: 18-20 April Race start: 18:00 BST on Sunday

Coverage: Live radio commentary of practice and qualifying online and BBC 5 Sports Extra; race live on BBC Radio 5 Live. Live text updates on the BBC Sport website and app

Lando Norris says "something is just not clicking" between him and his McLaren car so far this season.

The Briton still leads the championship after finishing third in the Bahrain Grand Prix on Sunday. But his team-mate Oscar Piastri's accomplished, dominant victory - the Australian's second win in four races so far this season - moved him to within three points of the Briton.

Mathematically, Piastri is still suffering from the twists of fate in the first race of the season in Australia.

There, both McLaren drivers ran off the track at the same time in a late shower of rain. But Norris' spin allowed him to continue on to victory, while Piastri became stuck on the wet grass, had to reverse back on to the track, and trailed home in ninth place.

On balance, though, Piastri has been the more convincing McLaren driver this year - turning the tables on their form through 2024 - and Norris knows it. But for now, he is not sure what to do about it.

"I wish I knew the answer," Norris said. "I don't have an answer, honestly.

"When you're an athlete, when you're a driver, you just know when things click, when you feel confident, when you feel comfortable.

"I'm confident that I have everything I need and I've got what it takes. I have no doubt about that – that I'm good enough, and all of those things.

"But something's just not clicking with me and the car. I'm not able to do any of the laps like I was doing last season.

"Then, I knew every single corner, everything that was going to happen with the car, how it was going to happen. I felt on top of the car.

"This year, I could not have felt more opposite so far. Even in Australia, whether or not I won the race, I never felt comfortable, never felt confident."

The change in the balance of power at McLaren as a consequence has been stark.

In 2024, Piastri out-qualified Norris only four times on merit all year - and only once in the final 16 races of the year - and the Briton's average pace advantage was 0.147 seconds a lap.

This season, Piastri is three-two ahead out of all five qualifying sessions, including the sprint in China, and the Australian has on average been 0.185secs quicker.

And qualifying ahead tends to lead to better race results.

The contrast was very much on display in Bahrain.

Norris fumbled his qualifying lap and lined up sixth on the grid. He recovered to third place but admitted that too many mistakes had prevented him from beating Mercedes' George Russell to second.

Piastri, by contrast, was flawless in taking pole and a controlled, calm victory in which the destiny of the race never seemed in doubt.

Piastri set himself the target this year of more consistently reaching his maximum potential, which he felt he had only accessed at times in 2024. And so far he has achieved his ambition.

Combining consistent speed with the mental solidity and racing decisiveness he has always shown makes Piastri a formidable rival who, psychologically at least, will be a tough nut to crack.

As McLaren team principal Andrea Stella put it in Bahrain: "There's no noise in Oscar's head, which is a very useful characteristic in Formula 1, and I think this allows him to progress, to process information, to process what's available in the situations as a way of improving himself at a very fast rate."

In Norris' head, by contrast, there is noise. While Piastri keeps a very even keel, and gives the impression of being unflappable, Norris wears his heart on his sleeve, and lives his failings publicly.

Which is not to say that it affects Norris' performance. As Norris puts it himself, this is just how he is. "When I do my interviews and whatever," he says, "a lot of it is probably just getting my frustration out. It's just because of not achieving what I want to achieve. It's because of my desire to do well and my ambition to win."

But it does make for a fascinating contrast between the two McLaren team-mates and now title contenders.

According to Stella, this is not a weakness in Norris.

"There is something important here," Stella says, "which is something I admire of Lando, and makes me very privileged and lucky as a team principal, that he tends to absorb and point the blame on himself.

"Like yesterday, Q3, he didn't put the lap together, he raises his hand. Offloading entirely the team from like, you guys, not your problem, it was me."

Stella adds that Norris taking the blame on himself is "inaccurate".

"We know that we have made some changes to the car, which made Lando's life a bit more difficult," Stella says.

"We know technically what this is, Lando is adapting to this. Somehow potentially it might have played a bit more on Oscar's end, and we are working together to fix it."

Essentially, the McLaren car is not giving Norris the feedback he needs for him to trust its front end when he is trying to take it to the limit in qualifying. Because it is unpredictable for him, he is finding it difficult to consistently replicate ultimate lap times.

Piastri, with a different driving style, is not being affected in the same way.

Stella says there is nothing different in Norris' reaction to not feeling at one with his car than with his previous charges, Michael Schumacher and Fernando Alonso, both of whom he worked with at Ferrari before moving to McLaren for 2015.

"I've seen various multiple world champions," Stella said. "I have not seen any of them that when there is a situation whereby you would like to do something with the car but the car doesn't do exactly what you would like, they are completely comfortable.

"It is an uncomfortable situation, but the way Lando is navigating through this situation, from a substantial point of view, is the same as other champions that I've seen in the past."

McLaren are working on technical changes to address Norris' issues, but it is not yet known publicly when they will arrive, nor of course how effective they will be.

It is adding an extra, unexpected twist to a title battle that at least so far seems to be slowly developing into an internal one between the two McLaren drivers.

"For myself," Piastri said, "I've been comfortable – especially this weekend – in what the car's been able to do. And I think the team's been doing a great job.

"But it's still so early. At the moment we've got a great car underneath us. I feel like for the most part we've been able to do a good job with it.

"I think there are going to be other contenders. And I think as long as we have the best car, it's going to be tight between Lando and I."