F1 Q&A: Is this season Norris' best chance to win title?

McLaren's Oscar Piastri won his 2nd contention astatine the Azerbaijan Grand Prix aft a gripping conflict with Ferrari's Charles Leclerc.

With team-mate Lando Norris finishing fourth, McLaren person taken the pb successful the constructors’ title from Red Bull.

The contention ended nether a virtual information car aft a clang betwixt Red Bull’s Sergio Perez and Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz.

BBC F1 analogous Andrew Benson answers your questions aft the contention successful Baku.

With Oscar Piastri looking similar the faster driver, volition this play beryllium Lando Norris' champion accidental to beryllium a satellite champion successful a McLaren? – Vipul

There’s a batch to unpick successful that question, and it seems to beryllium based connected immoderate beauteous questionable assumptions.

First of all, it’s not close to accidental that Piastri is "the faster driver" astatine McLaren. In fact, Norris has had a flimsy borderline connected implicit gait this year.

In their qualifying head-to-head, Norris is starring 13-3, and is quicker by an mean of 0.116 seconds. That’s counting races lone wherever a just examination tin beryllium made, and not including bedewed sessions successful the mean velocity calculation. The past clip Piastri bushed Norris successful qualifying was successful Monaco backmost successful May.

And Norris is up of Piastri successful the title by 32 points.

Yes, Piastri has scored much points than immoderate different operator successful the past 7 races - but that doesn’t needfully mean helium has been "faster" than Norris crossed them.

It’s really amazingly hard to archer which of the McLaren drivers has been quicker successful astir of those grands prix due to the fact that determination is simply a batch of condition progressive successful the races successful which Piastri has finished up of Norris - Austria, Hungary, Belgium, Italy and Azerbaijan.

In Austria, Norris was good up but was deed by Max Verstappen arsenic they battled for the pb and dropped backmost with a damaged car.

In Hungary, Norris qualified up successful a McLaren one-two but was beaten disconnected the enactment by Piastri. In the race, their gait looked beauteous similar. Piastri edged distant erstwhile helium had the lead, Norris did the aforesaid erstwhile helium did. As Piastri has said: "Clean aerial is king."

In Belgium, Norris made a mistake connected the archetypal thigh and that allowed Piastri and others to get ahead. In Italy, Piastri overtook him connected the archetypal thigh - and thereafter had cleanable aerial portion Norris was down Piastri and Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari, expanding his tyre wear. And successful Baku, Norris was unlucky to travel crossed a yellowish emblem successful qualifying.

That’s not to marque excuses for Norris. It’s conscionable discourse that is important to carnivore successful caput earlier forming conclusions astir which operator is "faster".

On balance, a just summary of the McLaren drivers’ seasons mightiness beryllium to accidental that they are intimately matched, Norris has been somewhat faster successful qualifying, but that Piastri has been a much decisive and intuitive racer, and made less tiny errors.

Piastri is an outstanding talent, and his racecraft is among the champion successful the field. His overtaking moves to instrumentality the pb against Norris successful Monza and Leclerc successful Baku were perfectly superb.

McLaren Racing main enforcement serviceman Zak Brown says helium has the champion operator line-up connected the grid. It’s a subjective constituent - Lewis Hamilton and George Russell is rather the pairing, arsenic volition beryllium Hamilton and Leclerc adjacent twelvemonth - but it’s surely existent that it is simply a fantastic combination.

Their competitiveness volition doubtless origin McLaren immoderate headaches, and it volition mean some rise their crippled arsenic they conflict for interior supremacy.

But Norris is lone 24, and he’s undoubtedly 1 of the elite. Piastri is rapidly establishing himself successful the aforesaid bracket. This is Norris’ archetypal accidental of the title, but it surely won’t beryllium his last.

Both Norris and Piastri look similar aboriginal satellite champions, successful fact. And the imaginable of their contention arsenic team-mates is mouth-watering. They some person galore years of occurrence up of them.

When was the past juncture a squad specified arsenic Red Bull dominated the archetypal fractional of a play lone to autumn distant successful specified melodramatic fashion? – David

Red Bull person so suffered a melodramatic diminution successful competitiveness this season. From dominating the commencement of the twelvemonth - 4 wins successful the archetypal 5 races, and 7 successful the archetypal 10 for Max Verstappen, to present not winning for 7 grands prix.

It is highly unusual, but it is not unprecedented.

For example, successful 2009, Jenson Button won six of the archetypal 7 races with Brawn, aft which helium had much than treble the points of Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel, who would look arsenic Button’s closest rubric rival.

Button past did not triumph again each season, and the title became a batch much tense and choky than it had looked similar it would. In the end, Button won it with a contention to spare with a large thrust to 5th spot successful Brazil from 14th connected the grid.

Before that, you person to spell backmost to 1991, erstwhile Ayrton Senna won the archetypal 4 races for McLaren portion Williams struggled with reliability with their caller FW14 - Adrian Newey’s archetypal large car.

Senna past won lone doubly much earlier sealing the rubric successful Japan with a contention to spell - aft a mistake by Williams operator Nigel Mansell, who spun disconnected connected thigh nine.

I tin deliberation of 1 much illustration - 1979, erstwhile Ligier dominated the archetypal 2 races, Jacques Laffite winning both.

But past the squad mislaid its way. It’s a fascinating story, including an anecdote astir the squad proprietor Guy Ligier deliberately smashing up the car’s sidepods due to the fact that helium wanted the squad to physique caller ones to a antithetic design. And it’s told brilliantly by my person and workfellow Mark Hughes successful an nonfiction for Motor Sport mag immoderate clip ago, external.

Other than that, there’s thing evident I tin deliberation of.

Will Ferrari drawback Red Bull and is Leclerc besides a rubric contender? – Felix

Max Verstappen said aft some the Italian and Azerbaijan Grands Prix that helium is not disquieted astir the menace from Charles Leclerc successful the drivers’ championship.

It’s not hard to spot wherefore - the Ferrari operator is 78 points down Verstappen. He’d request to summation connected him by much than 11 points a contention connected mean implicit the remainder of the season, which does not look likely.

Even Lando Norris’ people of conscionable implicit 8 points a contention is pugnacious enough.

The constructors’ title is different, though. Red Bull mislaid the pb to McLaren successful Azerbaijan connected Sunday and don’t look similar getting it back.

Ferrari are present lone 31 points down Red Bull and mightiness good constrictive that spread successful Singapore this play - they won determination past year, and Red Bull are not expecting a bully play astatine Marina Bay.

But it remains to beryllium seen however consistently competitory Ferrari volition beryllium implicit the last 7 races - Leclerc is saying they person to hold until the US Grand Prix successful Austin to get a definitive judgement due to the fact that Monza, Baku and Singapore are ‘Ferrari circuits’, wherever they were besides beardown past year.

How tin Aston Martin prosecute Adrian Newey, wage Fernando Alonso and unfastened a caller state-of-the-art upwind passageway if determination is simply a fund headdress successful place? – John

The fund headdress limits teams to spending £106m a twelvemonth connected their car plan and build, salaries and operations. But a fig of costs are excluded.

Among these are drivers, and the remuneration of the top-three highest-earning executives. So Alonso’s and Newey’s salaries are excluded from the cap.

As for the caller mill and upwind tunnel, determination are besides exceptions for superior expenditure.

It’s not a broad objection - Williams squad brag James Vowles was complaining past year, for example, that the allowance should beryllium higher to let his squad to perpetrate the concern successful infrastructure they consciousness is required - and it has to beryllium cleared with governing assemblage the FIA.

Aston Martin person spent upwards of £200m connected their caller facilities, but it falls nether that criteria.

Might Jamie Chadwick oregon different pistillate operator get a thrust successful F1 soon? Must beryllium amended than immoderate connected the grid close now? – Ed

On the circumstantial question of Jamie Chadwick, she is successful the Williams F1 operator improvement programme, and is pursuing a vocation successful IndyNXT successful the US, Indycar’s equivalent of Formula 2. This year, she has won a contention and finished seventh successful the championship, which ended connected Sunday successful Nashville.

As for the wider question of erstwhile a pistillate operator mightiness scope F1, I would notation you to Susie Wolff, manager of the F1 Academy, the entry-level bid for aspiring pistillate drivers.

Wolff told BBC Sport past year: "It’s going to instrumentality a agelong time."

The constituent of the F1 Academy is arsenic a archetypal measurement to assistance the astir talented pistillate drivers connected to the feeder bid ladder, and to pull much women into motorsport to summation the chances of idiosyncratic making it longer term.

It's wide that among the obstacles to a pistillate making it to F1 is the deficiency of practice of women successful motorsport, and the precise debased percent of racing drivers who are female.

As Wolff puts it: "I americium good alert we request to summation the endowment excavation for the champion to emergence up, and lone past volition we beryllium capable to unfastened the doorway to F1."

The racing is truthful large now. Why tin we not support these regulations for longer? – PM

F1 is so successful beauteous bully signifier close now. These existent regulations are acold from cleanable - the ground-effect cars are astir apt excessively stiff, they are excessively prone to 'bouncing', they person not improved overtaking anyplace adjacent arsenic overmuch arsenic was promised, and the Pirelli tyres are inactive excessively thermally sensitive, which harms the racing.

But the apical 4 teams are precise intimately matched and the racing from lawsuit to lawsuit is precise competitive.

F1 is committed to caller rules being introduced successful 2026 though, and determination is nary going back.

The caller power-unit regulations - which summation the proportionality of wide powerfulness provided by the hybrid portion of the motor to astir 50% and mandate afloat sustainable fuels - were introduced to support F1 applicable and pull caller manufacturers. They succeeded successful persuading Honda to enactment and getting Audi and Ford to enter.

The cars are being changed, excessively - astatine slightest partially due to the fact that of immoderate of the points mentioned successful the commencement of this answer.

Will this marque the tract little competitive? It’s rather possible. Quite often, erstwhile caller rules are introduced, 1 squad does commencement with an advantage. But it’s intolerable to cognize close now. And successful immoderate case, everyone successful F1 accepts that the rules request to beryllium refreshed each fewer years.

Will Franco Colapinto’s awesome signifier gain him a thrust with a squad for adjacent year? – Brendan

Franco Colapinto has so performed good successful his 2 races since replacing Logan Sargeant astatine Williams, afloat justifying the team’s determination to driblet the American and beforehand the Argentine.

Colapinto finished eighth successful Baku connected Sunday successful lone his 2nd race, and would person scored a constituent for 10th adjacent without the clang betwixt Carlos Sainz and Sergio Perez successful the closing stages.

But determination is nary disposable spot astatine Williams successful 2025 - they person already signed Alex Albon and Sainz.

In fact, determination is lone 1 spot inactive unfastened to Colapinto connected the grid, really, due to the fact that though Red Bull person inactive not confirmed their line-up astatine RB, they volition instrumentality in-house.

That means lone the 2nd Sauber spot alongside Nico Hulkenberg is up for grabs successful 2025. And Colapinto does not look to beryllium a frontrunner for that.

It appears astatine the infinitesimal arsenic if it is betwixt incumbent Valtteri Bottas and Formula 2 title person Gabriel Bortoleto, who is simply a protege of Fernando Alonso.

Bortoleto, a 19-year-old Brazilian, has had a precise awesome run successful F2 this year, including a superb triumph successful the Monza diagnostic contention from the backmost of the grid.

I often perceive the operation of putting a vigor rhythm done the tyres. Can you delight explicate the benefits of doing this? – Gordon

This is simply a notation to the alleged 'scrubbing' of tyres - erstwhile teams tally the tyres for 1 dilatory thigh earlier putting them speech for aboriginal usage.

It’s done to hole them for usage successful the race. Teams ever privation marque caller tyres for qualifying.

Some teams judge that 'scrubbing' tyres makes them much resilient and easier to grip successful the race. McLaren and Aston Martin are 2 examples.

Often, for example, erstwhile you look astatine the database of tyres disposable for each operator for the race, it volition look arsenic if they person less marque caller tyres than different teams. Quite often, astatine slightest immoderate of those 'used' tyres volition simply beryllium scrubbed.

But this is not an nonstop science. Even the engineers whose teams bash it volition archer you determination is nary implicit impervious it makes the tyres amended for the race. Many teams don’t judge it does and thin not to bash it.