Lando Norris Faces Tactical Challenges at 2025 Belgian Grand Prix

Lando Norris’s ambitions for victory at the 2025 Belgian Grand Prix were hindered when he lost the lead to teammate Oscar Piastri shortly after the race commenced. The unpredictable weather conditions made the track challenging, and tactical decisions played a crucial role in the race’s outcome.

The race began on a wet but drying track, prompting all drivers who scored points to implement a single pit stop for slick tyres. Lewis Hamilton took an early risk, opting for slicks on lap 11, which paid off as he surged six positions to finish seventh. Following Hamilton’s lead, three additional drivers made their pit stops that lap.

Norris, however, chose not to pit immediately. He was waiting to avoid losing time behind Piastri, who had taken the lead. This decision, compounded by a slow pit stop for a front-left tyre change, ultimately cost him valuable time. Norris’s pit stop resulted in a gap expanding from 1.9 seconds to 9.1 seconds behind Piastri, indicating that he might have benefitted from “stacking” behind his teammate.

Piastri’s performance after the pit stop was notable; he recorded a time 2.4 seconds faster in the middle sector during his first lap out of the pits compared to Norris. The strategy chosen by Norris also involved switching to hard tyres, while Piastri and most others opted for medium tyres. This decision created an opportunity for Norris to close in later in the race as the mediums began to degrade.

As the race drew to a close, Norris managed to narrow the gap to Piastri to under three seconds before misjudging a corner at La Source on the penultimate lap. Had Norris followed Piastri into the pits and opted for hard tyres, he likely would have lost less time and been in a better position to challenge for the lead.

The race data indicates that Norris’s performance was also impacted by mistakes during his pursuit of Piastri, as shown in the lap graphs for laps 26, 34, and 43. A different pit strategy could have placed Norris in a more advantageous position, especially if he had chosen to pit simultaneously with Hamilton. This early pit stop would have allowed him to potentially “undercut” Piastri, although such a strategy is typically not permitted under normal race conditions.

The analysis of Norris’s race highlights the complexities of strategy in Formula 1, where split-second decisions can significantly impact race outcomes. As teams continue to refine their tactics, drivers like Norris will be looking to leverage lessons learned for future races.