Damon Hill on the 2025 title fight: “Patriotic” pick is Norris — but don’t count out Piastri or Verstappen
Damon Hill has never been one to hide where his heart sits. Asked about the 2025 championship scrap, the 1996 World Champion admitted he’s pulling for Lando Norris “from a patriotic point of view” — then immediately underlined what everyone in the paddock knows: this title isn’t in anyone’s pocket yet.
McLaren’s season has been a tug-of-war between its two young stars. The momentum belonged to Oscar Piastri through the middle phase — then Norris found another gear. Since then, the balance inside Woking has tilted back orange in No. 4’s direction, with clean weekends, razor-sharp qualifying laps and the kind of race management that wins championships rather than just races.
Hill’s take? Norris has unlocked something at exactly the right time, while Piastri has looked — briefly — like a driver feeling the weight of a full-season title fight for the first time. That’s not a criticism; it’s the reality every top-line driver confronts the first time the calendar turns into a pressure cooker. “Fighting for a World Championship isn’t the same as just driving,” as Hill put it. You can hear the empathy of a former champion in that line.
The flashpoint that crystallised the narrative came around Monza, when strategy and radio traffic had everybody talking about team orders and who owed what to whom at McLaren. True or not, the noise did Piastri no favours. Since then, Norris has looked freer, more decisive on Sundays, and a touch more ruthless. That matters in a title run-in.
But Hill was just as quick to point out the other side of the garage isn’t short of steel. Piastri’s manager, Mark Webber, knows exactly how to steer a driver through a long, tense campaign. The Australian pairing is methodical by nature, and Piastri doesn’t spook easily. If there’s a technical thread or mental cue that’s been pulling him off-line in recent rounds, you’d bet on that group to find it and fix it fast. That’s how this works at the top: diagnose, correct, retaliate.
And then there’s the third character in the story who refuses to exit stage left. Max Verstappen has spent enough seasons turning deficits into bait to ensure no one writes him out while there are still points on the table. Even on days when he starts on the back foot, he tends to end up in the fight by lap 20. You can admire the McLaren resurgence and still accept the truism: if there’s a mathematical route, Verstappen will try to blow the doors off it.
The bigger picture is that 2025 has been streaky. Momentum has swung from Norris to Piastri to Verstappen and back again, which is why the next few Sundays feel loaded. McLaren has given its drivers a car that expands the envelope at most circuits — enough to let them sort the championship between themselves, unless Verstappen and Red Bull decide otherwise. That uncertainty is the fun part.
Hill’s stance — proudly backing Norris while cautioning against premature coronations — mirrors the paddock mood. Norris has been the cleaner operator lately, stacking points and seizing control of weekends. Piastri has the raw speed to punch back and the support system to keep him honest. Verstappen is Verstappen: the final boss who never stays on the canvas.
Three drivers, one trophy, and just enough runway left for one more twist. If Norris keeps threading perfect Saturdays into tidy Sundays, the math looks after itself. If Piastri resets and hits the sweet spot he flirted with earlier in the year, we’ve got a McLaren civil war to the wire. And if Verstappen senses a crack, don’t be surprised if he rips it open. That’s how this season has gone — and why Hill, patriotic or not, isn’t calling it early.
