Jolyon Palmer explains why Lando Norris hasn’t had a fair shot in McLaren’s battle with Oscar Piastri
Photo by Jayce Illman/Getty Images Jolyon Palmer has dismissed Oscar Piastri’s early lead over Lando Norris in their McLaren head-to-head, even though Norris holds a slight edge in the championship. While Piastri appears to have more speed at the moment, Norris remains ahead on points. Piastri missed the first two races of the season but is just four points behind Norris.
He crashed before the start in Australia and was sidelined by an electrical fault in China. Despite that, he leads their qualifying battle 3-0 and marked his first race of the year with a second-place finish at Suzuka, McLaren’s best result of 2026 so far. Lando Norris facing early season hurdles Speaking on the F1 Nation podcast, Palmer pointed out that Norris had been dealing with several car issues during practices.
The reigning world champion managed just seven laps in FP1 at the Australian Grand Prix due to a transmission problem. Then, in Japan, a hydraulic leak kept him in the garage for 20 minutes during FP2, cutting short any chance of a proper long run. He only managed 13 laps in FP3 the next morning as well.
Over the first three race weekends, Piastri has completed 130 laps in practice compared to Norris’ 99. With drivers still learning how best to manage their batteries under new regulations this season, that gap could be significant. “I feel like Norris has not had a very good run of things,” said Palmer.
“China, in the Sprint, he outqualified Oscar. There was not much in it, but he lost out in the China qualifying. Neither of them started the race.