Lando Norris: McLaren driver reveals 'hurt' as team principal Andrea Stella expresses regret over 'painful' Dutch GP car failure
Lando Norris suffered his second retirement of the 2025 Formula 1 season but his first due to a car issue at the Dutch GP; Norris is now 34 points behind Oscar Piastri, who dominated the race; watch every session of the Italian GP live on Sky Sports F1 from this Friday
Monday 1 September 2025 06:34, UK
Lando Norris says his dramatic retirement from the Dutch Grand Prix "hurts" as McLaren team principal Andrea Stella expressed his regret over Sunday's car failure.
Norris reported an oil leak with just eight laps to go in in Zandvoort when running in second behind team-mate Oscar Piastri, who won the race, and quickly grinded to a halt as his McLaren smoked away.
The reliability failure, which McLaren say was down to a chassis issue which will be reviewed ahead of this weekend's race in Monza, puts Norris 34 points behind Piastri in the title race with nine rounds to go.
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"I just want to go have a burger and go home," Norris told Sky Sports F1.
"It's frustrating, it's not like I'm happy about today. It hurts and to lose, 25 points outright, it would have been seven points, it would have been smaller.
"I just have to keep fighting, keep doing what I can. I was quick today. I thought I could fight for a win. If you're fighting for a win around here, that's normally just a good job already.
"I take the positives, I look on, I'll try to bounce back. I've got tough competition, so it's never going to be easy, but really make sure I do everything I can."
McLaren have said all season-long they did not want an operational mistake or mechanical failure to decide the narrative of the Drivers' Championship to ensure Piastri and Norris had an equal chance of winning the title.
The last McLaren car failure was over two-and-a-half years ago at the 2023 Bahrain Grand Prix and Stella says the team will review how a chassis problem led to the oil leak.
"I think today we experienced the two sides of motorsport," McLaren team principal Stella told Sky Sports F1.
"On one side, we have the joy, the satisfaction of another victory for McLaren, a deserved victory for Oscar - he ran a very strong and clean weekend.
"And on the opposite side, we have the disappointment and the pain for our retirement. Lando was in contention to try to win the race. It was certainly P1, P2 possible today for McLaren. We had the joy and the pain at the same time, this is motor racing."
He added: "We've identified an issue on the chassis side, and we will do a full review before we go racing again in Monza. This is the first technical problem for the team after a long run of faultless reliability. Thank you to the entire team for their continued effort which led to another victory, as we continue our journey together."
Piastri: Points lead 'not a comfortable margin'
Piastri turned the tables over the Zandvoort weekend when it mattered most after Norris topped all three practice sessions.
When it mattered most, Piastri pipped his team-mate to pole position by 0.012s which gave him track position for Sunday's race, which he led from start to finish.
Ultimately, Norris' retirement meant none of that mattered but Piastri proved once again he can deliver under the highest of pressure.
"I think qualifying was the key this weekend. Through the free practice sessions, it was looking like a difficult Zandvoort again, but we chipped away, tried to find time, tweak the car here and there," he said.
"But, I just tried to really improve how I was driving because, let's be honest, it's pretty hard to complain about the car we've got. So just tried to chip away with that and it came good when it mattered.
"Through the race today, I felt like I had good pace as well and used that when I needed to. So massively proud of firstly myself, but also the whole team around me in turning it around from 12 months ago."
Piastri, who is looking to become just the third Australian F1 world champion after Jack Brabham and Alan Jones, says he will not play the percentage game, despite his big lead.
"There's still a long way to go. I need to keep pushing and trying to win races still," he added.
"I wouldn't say it's a very comfortable margin. As we saw today, it can change with one DNF very, very quickly. So this far out from the end of the year, it's not a comfortable gap."
F1's European season concludes with the Italian Grand Prix - watch the whole Monza weekend live on Sky Sports F1 from Friday. Stream Sky Sports with NOW - no contract, cancel anytime
