Formula 1: The ridiculous spat that exposed Lando's biggest weakness

After Lando Norris begrudgingly gave back the lead to McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri in the closing stages of the Hungarian Grand Prix in July, Piastri went on to secure his first career Formula 1 victory.

Piastri had overtaken his teammate at the start of the Grand Prix and never looked back. Norris, who had once again lost the lead from pole in turn one, was able to overtake Piastri due to McLaren pitting him earlier in the final stint to cover off the threat of an undercut from Lewis Hamilton's Mercedes in third place.

In the cooldown room after the race, Hamilton simply remarked to the two drivers in papaya that "you guys are fast".

Norris, for whatever reason, decided to take it personally.

The 24-year-old Briton stated that "you had a fast car seven years ago". Asked by Hamilton if he was even in Formula 1 seven years ago (which he wasn't), Norris ignored the question and again jumped down his rival's throat, saying "yeah, well, you had a quick car, you made the most of it, and now it's us".

It's not the first time that Norris has created a problem for himself with an unnecessary reference about the strength of either his or a rival's race car.

Back in 2020, when Hamilton won his fourth world championship in a row, sixth in seven years, and record-tying seventh of his career, Norris came out and stated the following.

"It doesn’t mean anything to me, really. He’s in a car which should win every race, basically. He has to beat one or two other drivers, that’s it. Fair play to him, he’s still doing the job he has to do."

- Lando Norris

Seven world championships don't mean anything. Imagine that.

Now here we are in October 2024. Aside from this past weekend's United States Grand Prix at Circuit of the Americas, where Ferrari ran away with their first 1-2 finish since March's Australian Grand Prix, McLaren have been unequivocally the fastest team on the grid.

In the 12 races between (not including) Norris' first career win in Miami and Charles Leclerc's Texas victory, McLaren scored by far and away the most points of any team. They trailed Red Bull by 115 points after Miami; they're now ahead by 40. They trailed Ferrari by 65; they're now ahead by 48.

That's 155 points better than the two-time reigning constructor champions and 117 points better than the team now listed as the second favorite to win this year's title.

Not many would have predicted it after Max Verstappen's 34 wins in 44 races between 2022 and 2023. But McLaren have had the fastest car for the overwhelming majority of the 2024 season.

But Formula 1 isn't just about who has the fastest car.

It's not that easy.

If that were the case, Norris would have already joined the likes of Lewis Hamilton, Max Verstappen, Michael Schumacher, and Sebastian Vettel on the very short list of drivers to record 10-win seasons.

Instead, he is sitting at three, tied with Leclerc in a Ferrari that has only had winning or even contending pace every three or four races at best.

Four years is a long time in Formula 1. For Norris to say what he said back in 2020 and for it to be brought up now, in itself, is not completely fair.

But given what he said to Hamilton just a few months ago, heat of the moment or not, it's obvious that he is still lacking a full understanding of what makes a world champion.

It's not as easy as simply driving a faster car than the other nine teams on the grid and beating your teammate.

And that might very well be his biggest weakness at the moment, even above the clear racecraft deficit he is still facing to the championship-leading Verstappen.

Hamilton didn't reel off three straight 10-win seasons (twice) because his car was fast. Verstappen didn't win more races in two years than anybody else ever has in three because his car was fast. Schumacher and Vettel didn't win five and four titles in a row, respectively, because their cars were fast.

Did that play a part of it? Absolutely. You certainly can't win in the slowest car; there's no doubt about that.

But there's so much more to it than that. Now that Norris has tasted what having a fast car feels like, perhaps his string of missed opportunities over the last five-plus months are a nice wake-up call that, as talented as he is, he needs to improve himself, perhaps even his attitude and approach.

Because McLaren have already built a championship-level race car.