Jenson Button warns "confidence is with Lando Norris, negativity is more with Oscar Piastri'

Jenson Button believes that Lando Norris has shown more confidence over recent races as he closes the gap to his McLaren team-mate and current championship leader Oscar Piastri.

Speaking ahead of the United States Grand Prix, the 2009 Formula 1 champion explained that if Norris could “come out on top” at the Circuit of The Americas then he would go into the remaining five race weekends of the season with a lot of confidence.

“I think so, he seems very positive in the last couple of races. Obviously, the incident in Singapore wasn’t good; you never want to touch your team-mate in a racing scenario. He seems confident in himself and, from the word go, he’s had three tenths on Oscar and it’s continued throughout the whole of the weekend,” he explained to Sky Sports F1.

In addition to the potential confidence boost for the British driver, Button noted the mentally challenging position Piastri is in.

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“If he’s able to come out on top here, it’s a lot of confidence going into the rest of the season, and it’s more difficult then for Oscar as well. You guys go in completely different directions, so the confidence is with Lando, and the negativity is more with Oscar, which we never thought would happen with Oscar! But it happens, we’re all human. It’s sport — mentally, this sport is so tough.”

Oscar Piastri, McLaren

Photo by: Peter Fox / Getty Images

With five race weekends remaining, with those including two more sprint races, Piastri now leads Norris by just 14 points. The McLaren pair, who had looked to be fighting it out between them, now has the added pressure of a resurgent Max Verstappen. Following the summer break, the Dutchman has won the Italian, Azerbaijan and United States grands prix, as well as the sprint race at the Circuit of The Americas while also securing second-place finishes in the Netherlands and Singapore races.

As a result, the Red Bull driver has closed the gap in the standings to 40 points behind Piastri and 26 points behind Norris.

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