Former world champion Jacques Villeneuve has accused Lando Norris of ‘collapsing under pressure’ after the Brit was outqualified again by his McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.
The McLaren duo went into qualifying as favourites, having claimed one-twos in all three practice sessions, but Norris could only manage fourth after failing to improve on his final flying lap as Piastri took pole.
Since taking pole for – and winning – the opening race of the season in Australia, Norris has been outqualified by Piastri at four of the last six rounds, and is now at risk of seeing his team-mate extend a 16-point advantage at the top of the Drivers’ Championship in Sunday’s race at Imola.
Sky Sports F1 pundit and 1997 F1 world champion Villeneuve said: “He’s shown all through the season that he has the pace, and most of the time, he has a slight edge over his team-mate Piastri.
“But when it’s money time, he collapses. It’s as if he puts himself under too much pressure and it doesn’t work out.
“He loses his natural flow. And when you lose your natural flow in driving, you lose a tenth here, half a tenth there, you put yourself under pressure and you start making mistakes.”
Highlights from qualifying at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix
Piastri’s advantage in qualifying represents a huge turnaround from last season, when Norris held a 21-3 head-to-head advantage over him.
“Last year, Lando was the qualifier of the team, and now Lando collapses every time there’s a little bit of pressure, and Piastri seems to make a step,” Villeneuve added.
“It’s really that qualifying lap, where he had the advantage last year, and now he’s gotten beaten a few times and it’s starting to affect him.”
Chadwick: I hope Lando doesn’t have a Q3 complex
The Brit has explained over recent weeks that he believes the characteristics of this year’s McLaren have made it more difficult for him to extract maximum performance over one lap.
On this occasion, Norris had been third after the first runs in Q3 behind Piastri and Max Verstappen, but then dropped a further position as Mercedes’ George Russell snatched third.
Norris told Sky Sports F1: “I guess I probably just wasn’t quick enough.
“None of my performances in Q3 have been strong enough this year, so (the) same thing.”
Lando Norris suffered a massive crash in his McLaren during Q3 at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix
Three-time W Series champion Jamie Chadwick also questioned whether Norris is overthinking his qualifying form.
Sky Sports F1 pundit Chadwick said: “I disagree with the suggestion that he hasn’t had pace, because he shows flashes of speed throughout qualifying, throughout practice sessions – it’s just in Q3, and he mentioned it himself.
“I really hope he’s not got a complex about that in particular, because in my opinion he has the speed and pace to be very close to Oscar, if not matching or better.
“If he had qualified only a few hundredths of a second behind Oscar today, that’s maybe what we would have expected. The problem is when he loses three tenths to Oscar and then he ends up fourth, that’s what’s going to be difficult to claw back.”
Stella: Piastri proved how cool he is again
Norris’ struggles have been emphasised by the consistency of Piastri, who has won four of six races this season, including the last three.
The Australian could have easily lost out on pole as he approached traffic in the closing stages of his flying lap, but maintained his composure to avoid a significant loss of time and marginally hold off Red Bull’s Verstappen.
McLaren team principal Andrea Stella said Piastri’s coolness in a tricky situation was further confirmation of the 24-year-old’s talent.
Having secured pole, McLaren’s Oscar Piastri is looking forward to taking on title rival Max Verstappen in Sunday’s race
Stella told Sky Sports F1: “Oscar, once again, he proved how cool he is – really a cold head, because he found so many cars in the last two corners.
“He stayed calm, he managed not to lose too much time, and scored the pole position. So, I think just confirmation of the talent that we know we have in hand.
“For Lando, I think the loss was distributed in a couple of corners, not just in one place. We know that at the moment for Lando when it’s about finding the last tenth of a second, he’s still needs to find the perfect feeling with the MCL39.
“So, we are working on that, and I’m sure this will be improving for the future. But when it comes to race pace, we are very strong with both drivers, and we look forward to tomorrow.”
Sky Sports F1’s Emilia Romagna GP Schedule
Look back at some of the most dramatic moments to have taken place at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix
Sunday May 18
7.25am: F3 Feature Race
8.55am: F2 Feature Race
12:30pm: Grand Prix Sunday: Emilia Romagna GP build-up
2pm: The EMILIA ROMAGNA GRAND PRIX
4pm: Chequered Flag: Emilia Romagna GP reaction
5pm: Ted’s Notebook
*Also live on Sky Sports Main Event
F1’s European season begins with the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix on Sunday with lights out at 2pm, live on Sky Sports F1. Stream Sky Sports with NOW – no contract, cancel anytime
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