McLaren admitted some "tough" conversations may be needed after Lando Norris drove into team-mate Oscar Piastri in the Canadian Grand Prix, but something else about that weekend signified a more alarming trend.
After their collision in Sunday’s race (a description that does Piastri a bit of a disservice given Norris tried to drive into a gap that wasn’t there on the start-finish straight and caused himself race-ending damage), McLaren team principal Andrea Stella spoke plainly about how Norris needed to respond.
"This may have an impact in terms of his confidence, but it's up to us as a team to show our full support to Lando," said Stella.
"And on this one I want to be completely clear, it's full support to Lando.
"We will have conversations, and the conversations may be even tough, but there's no doubt over the support we give to Lando and over the fact that we will preserve our parity and equality in terms of how we go racing at McLaren between our two drivers.
"Lando himself will have to show his character to overcome this kind of episode, make sure that he only takes the learnings, he only takes what will make him a stronger driver."
The raw numbers tell you Norris is already plenty strong, and having a perfectly decent season - two wins, eight podiums, 22 points off the championship lead. But he has made a lot of mistakes this season for a title contender. Some big, some small, some in qualifying, some in races, but altogether too many.
Driving into Piastri in Canada was particularly poor for a driver trying to win the championship. It was an extreme example of Norris making a misjudgement with his racecraft in a key moment.
But a more well-established pattern, which is now quite worrying, came 24 hours prior: with the sight of Norris making an error on not one, but both his laps in Q3, which is why instead of fighting for pole, he started seventh, and is why he was behind Piastri on track in the first place.
Another disappointing qualifying error is problematic. Especially as it came in a weekend in which Norris was clearly the faster McLaren driver.
That’s not the first time it’s happened this year, or even the second. At three races now - China, Saudi Arabia and Canada - Norris has been quicker than Piastri in every practice session and qualifying segment except the final part. In China he even did it in both sprint and main qualifying.
It is startling to see such clear, extreme evidence of Norris’s qualifying drop-off. His fundamental speed hasn’t disappeared. Norris has been quicker than Piastri in the majority of the practice and qualifying sessions this year. But too often Norris is fumbling his crucial last laps: there was the compromised sprint qualifying lap in China that left him sixth, the Q3 mistakes in Bahrain, the crash at the start of Q3 in Saudi Arabia, and most recently in Canada, two separate Q3 mistakes that left him seventh.
The big errors are easy to just list. A closer look reveals just how stark it is: Norris has outpaced Piastri nine times out of 12 in Q1 or SQ1, by just under a tenth on average; in Q2 and SQ2 he’s been faster eight times, again by just under a tenth; but in Q3 or SQ3, Norris has only been ahead four times out of 12, with an average deficit of 0.16s.
Whether it’s been super tight between them or the margin for error is minimal, Norris has repeatedly faded when it counts most. It’s not a stretch to say Norris is still the faster McLaren driver. But this year, he has simply not been a good qualifier.
The obvious question is why this is happening. Some of it may be car-related. Both drivers have mentioned how the car doesn’t provide a strong, consistent feeling through the front axle. There’s a certain numbness in its feedback that makes it harder to anticipate what the car will do on the limit and at times, Norris’s driving style seems more vulnerable to that trait than Piastri’s. He tends to want to carry more mid-corner speed and load both axles heavily. When the car becomes unpredictable, that approach can leave him more exposed to sudden snaps, particularly on corner entry.
But the more Norris’s errors have totted up, the more it’s become apparent they haven’t come from just being caught out by the car, but from misjudgments. This was the case in Canada, where McLaren confirmed it was purely driver error.
“Despite the outcome in Q3 there are steps forward in how comfortable Lando is in the car,” said Stella.
“At the start of the season, he definitely was commenting on the fact that he didn't have enough cueing especially from the steering and in understanding where the front grip was.
“This situation has improved thanks to some changes that were made to the car, including the front suspension here, because Lando seemed in good shape straight away.
“I think the Q3 case here is really a genuine one in which he just tried too hard. The speed is there, if we give him another set and we said ‘just don't overdo it’, I'm sure he's up there and fighting for pole position.
“So, nothing that we should be too concerned about. The game is extremely competitive. But at the same time, this doesn't mean that we can always push at the limit.”
This has been the messaging for several races now, though. So, at some point it must become concerning, if that point has not already been reached. And it will be interesting - and pivotal to the season - to see if McLaren and Norris can work together to drill into the detail of his errors and eradicate them. Otherwise, it risks becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy every Saturday.
Norris has openly admitted to getting nervous in qualifying, and his honesty is laudable. But as this is elite sporting competition, controlling those nerves and handling the pressure is critical.
Is it as ‘simple’ as Norris buckling in that moment? And if so, is the trend an inevitable consequence because the more this pattern repeats, the more aware he is of it, and the more pressure he feels under? Especially now that there’s genuine talk of a title fight and growing external expectation, on top of Norris’s own self-criticism.
Minor missteps are inevitable across a season but the major ones - the ones that keep happening at the same crucial moment, and seemingly for the same reason - are much harder to ignore.
More on Norris' tough Canadian GP
Why penalised Norris avoids a grid drop for Piastri clash
McLaren's plea to its drivers after Canada clash
'I made a fool of myself' - Norris's apology to Piastri
Norris and Piastri collide in F1's Canadian GP as Russell wins
McLaren has created a huge opportunity, and even a great likelihood, that one of its drivers will win the championship this year. And prior to this year, if you asked people which McLaren driver would be champion in such a situation, the overwhelming majority would have said Norris.
He still might. But Norris is few people’s favourites right now, and must rapidly end his cycle of repeat errors in order to consistently produce his brilliant best.
