Carlos Sainz takes aim at British media for being tough on Lando Norris for 'how he handles himself mentally'

Carlos Sainz has called out British media for being tough on Lando Norris for how he handles the mental side of things and applauded the Brit for blocking the noise. Norris is in an intriguing title battle this season with teammate Oscar Piastri.

The two drivers are very close to each other in almost every aspect, and there's not much to choose between the two either. Be it qualifying or race pace, the two are evenly matched, and we can see it in the number of wins, pole positions, or points each of them has accumulated.

At the same time, however, they are different personalities, with Oscar Piastri being someone who keeps things close to his chest while Lando Norris is a vociferous self-critic. As a result, if there are errors made by Lando Norris, then that tends to get highlighted more because the driver does that himself.

Carlos Sainz was questioned about the F1 championship battle as well, and the Spaniard gave special praise to Lando Norris for the manner in which he's been able to block the noise against the British media that has been tough on him. He told the PA news agency,

"In a championship fight there’s always going to be ups and downs. He’s had his downs and he’s recovered well from them. He gets a lot of criticism for them also."

He added,

“The British media are tough on him with how he handles himself mentally and all this and he’s managed to block all the noise and put himself back in the championship fight now, so let’s see where it goes.”

Carlos Sainz surprised at how big a gap Lando Norris' team has pulled on the grid

Carlos Sainz almost helped Ferrari clinch the world championship against McLaren last season in Abu Dhabi when he came second to Lando Norris in the race. For 2025, there was an expectation that the Italian team might be a challenge once again for the title. As it turns out, that's not the case.

Carlos Sainz felt that while when he left the team, he felt Ferrari could potentially challenge for the title, but he was caught off-guard by the kind of jump that McLaren has made over the winter. He said,

"Honestly when I left Ferrari last year I saw a team ready to win a world championship and yes, it did surprise me at the beginning of the season. Not so much maybe Ferrari not being there but how competitive McLaren were. What no one expected was McLaren to come up with a car that is blowing the competition away.”

The 2025 F1 championship is going to be decided between Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, and the battle is going to go down to the wire. Either way, the sport would have a new champion on the grid next season to accompany the likes of Fernando Alonso, Lewis Hamilton, and Max Verstappen.