2024 was a breakthrough year for Lando Norris as he scored his first F1 win, ending up with four overall as he places 3rd in Pit Debrief’s F1 Driver Rankings.
However, the British driver could have won the Drivers’ Championship this year. A combination of factors saw him lose out on the title by 63 points to four-time World Champion Max Verstappen as he ultimately came 2nd.
Damage limitation at the start of the season
McLaren conceded in pre-season that they did not have all the developments they wanted on the MCL38. It left Red Bull and Ferrari out front early doors, with Max Verstappen winning four of the first five races. Carlos Sainz was heroically victorious in Melbourne.
Nonetheless, there was signs of what was to come from the 2024 Constructors’ Champions. Strong races from Norris in Melbourne (P3) and Shanghai (P2) showed there was pace and potential in the car. The 25-year-old splitting the Red Bulls in China was certainly impressive.
After round 5, Norris trailed Verstappen by 52 points in the standings, sitting P5.
The first win in Miami opens the floodgates
2024 was turned upside down in the US as McLaren introduced a game changing upgrade at the Miami Grand Prix. From there, they were regularly the fastest or second quickest car.
While there was a degree of fortune with the Safety Car timing on the Sunday, Norris was outstanding.
Running in P6 at the back of the Red Bull, McLaren and Ferrari battle, the Brit saved his medium tyres behind Sergio Pérez early on, dropping back to extend his first stint. It worked a treat.
A Safety Car at the halfway point saw him pit behind it and maintain the lead. The other five drivers had already boxed. His pace before everyone pitted was scintillating, catching Verstappen, Piastri and Sainz when they were all on used mediums. He drove away from the Dutchman on the hard tyre, taking a commanding first Grand Prix win by almost 8s.
Norris delivered two more dominant wins in Zandvoort and Singapore (despite a couple of hairy moments), winning both races by over 20 seconds after taking pole.
The most impressive win came in Abu Dhabi, however. Starting on pole, all the pressure to seal the Constructors’ Championship for McLaren fell on his shoulders when Piastri was tagged by Verstappen into turn 1.
Despite pressure from Carlos Sainz throughout as the Spaniard kept in touch, Norris was perfect, winning by 5.8s in the end. McLaren’s outstanding pit stop was key as well as Ferrari tried to undercut.
McLaren’s Constructors’ Championship glory is their first in 26 years on the team’s side. It’s their first title win overall since 2008 when Lewis Hamilton won the Drivers’ Championship in the craziest circumstances at Interlagos.
Costly driving errors
At the elite level in any sport, any errors when an athlete is trying to win the ultimate trophy will be remembered, especially if they do not go on to win a title one day. Unfortunately for Lando Norris, he is in the position of the mistakes getting severely scrutinised.
Shanghai Sprint
Starting on pole after a masterclass in the wet of SQ3, Norris ruined his Sprint immediately.
Lewis Hamilton got the better launch and took the lead into turn 1. Rather than tucking in behind the Mercedes driver, the McLaren star tried to hold it around the outside, running wide at the incredibly long turn 2 and dropping down to P7.
Norris crossed the line in P6. In reality, it should have been P2 or P3 considering Max Verstappen’s pace.
Austria
After a slow second stop for Max Verstappen, Norris had a shot at victory at the Red Bull Ring. While the final incident that led to both drivers picking up damage was on the Dutchman, how he managed things before that was questionable.
With three DRS zones, there was ample opportunities for the 25-year-old to set up a move. Instead, multiple divebombs at turn 3 saw him run wide off once, and he pushed Verstappen off on the next one.
Had the final incident not happened and he made a clean pass, it’s unlikely Norris would have won as he picked up four track limit violations, including during his battle with Verstappen, resulting in a time penalty.
In the Sprint itself, Norris had made a quality move into turn 3 on Verstappen for the lead. With the DRS on the run to turn 4, it should have been job done.
The McLaren driver left the door open, however, and Verstappen needed no invitation to go through. It got even worse for Norris as Piastri also made his way by thanks to the deep braking from the Red Bull driver.
On a weekend where Norris could have gained points on Verstappen or kept the losses to a minimum, he gave 12 away instead.
Belgium
On the exit of turn 1, Norris briefly drove into the gravel with his left hand side tyres in one of the bizarrest mistakes of the season. It dropped him from P5 to P7 after he had started 4th.
By the time the chequered flag fell, he finished a place behind Max Verstappen. He should have been 3rd at a minimum, when you factor in George Russell’s disqualification.
Circuit of The Americas
While he arguably should have taken it into his own hands to give Max Verstappen the place back after passing him off track at turn 12 that resulted in a 5-second penalty late in the race — albeit run wide by the Dutchman — the big mistake came at the start.
After a superb launch from pole, Norris could have covered the inside line. Instead, he left the door open for Max Verstappen to get his elbows out. He dropped to P4 and made his life so much harder on a weekend where McLaren did not have a clear pace advantage. It was a bad error of judgement.
In the Sprint, a lock-up into turn 1 at the start of the final lap opened the door for Carlos Sainz to nip through on exit and take 2nd place.
Brazil
Two mistakes came in very tricky conditions. After the red flag, Norris ran wide, losing P4 to George Russell after he passed him just before the Safety Car/red flag period.
As Max Verstappen overtook Esteban Ocon for the lead to pretty much kill off the title hopes Norris had, the Brit had a moment on the brakes and ran off on the entry to turn 1, falling to 7th, although Piastri would hand him that place a few laps later.
Qatar
Running in 2nd in the Grand Prix, Norris picked up a 10-second penalty for not slowing under double waved yellow flag conditions.
Although he recovered to score a point + get the fastest lap, the 25-year-old looked to have the pace on hards to take the win off Verstappen. In any case, it was another podium finish thrown away.
Bad starts
Another area Norris needs to tidy up is race starts, although things did get better as the season went on.
Along with the aforementioned first laps troubles, dropping to P3 in Spain cost him a probable victory. Hungary was also a killer as teammate Oscar Piastri got a better launch from 2nd to take the race lead.
He also lost the lead on lap one at Zandvoort but would go on to take a dominant victory. This one looked less on the driver as both McLarens got terrible launches.
McLaren needs to take its share of responsibility
There is no doubt that driving mistakes played a significant role in the fact Norris did not bring the title fight to Abu Dhabi at the very least.
However, McLaren must take their share of the blame for not winning both championships in 2024.
Strategy mistakes
Saudi Arabia
In Saudi Arabia, Norris was left out as most of the field pitted behind an early Safety Car. Before it he ran in P6. Running long did not pay off, and the British driver finished 8th.
A couple of rounds later at Suzuka, Norris made his second stop at the same time Leclerc made his only trip to pit lane in the race. It was a puzzling call not to extend and try to come back at the Ferrari towards the end for P4.
Silverstone
At the British Grand Prix, McLaren lacked clarity on the pit wall before the final stops, switching from inters to dries. They had already boxed a lap too late, and Norris slipped behind Lewis Hamilton for the lead.
The McLaren driver could have potentially caught Hamilton in the closing laps, but the decision to put on softs instead of mediums was a terrible one. As Oscar Piastri showed on the yellow wall tyre, the car was very fast. To make matters worse, Max Verstappen passed him for P2 in the closing laps as his softs fell off a cliff.
Spa
Although Norris made his own error at the start at Spa, he was still ahead of Verstappen in the first stint as they sat in P7 and P8. Despite long straights, Spa is difficult to pass on due to the compromise required for the long sector 2 full of corners. McLaren allowed Red Bull to undercut, gifting Verstappen track position that he held until the end.
The strategy team and Will Joseph need to be far more decisive next year if they want to fight for the Drivers’ Championship with their driver, providing it’s as close as the season just gone. Communication can be worked on as well as quite a few messages can be too long and lacking clarity.
Puzzling lack of team orders/tactics
Australia
Back in April at the Australian Grand Prix, McLaren had no issues swapping the cars during the race as Lando Norris was the faster driver, helped by having a tyre delta he created by going longer in the first stint. They crossed the line in P3 and P4.
Hungary
Yet, as the season went on, they were unbelievably indecisive when it came to making the brave but necessary calls. Norris was the only McLaren driver who had any chance of the Drivers’ Championship in 2024.
Giving Norris the undercut in Hungary when they were running in a comfortable 1-2 was bizarre. While the plan was always to swap the cars back, pitting the lead car first would have been the right thing.
After putting both drivers in an incredibly awkward situation, Norris gave the place back to Piastri with three laps to go. The Brit had pulled out a 6s gap as he showed his tremendous race pace in the final stint before ceding the spot.
Piastri won his first Grand Prix. McLaren’s management of things was the big talking point in the end, though.
Monza
McLaren locked out the front row at Monza as Norris took pole position from Piastri. A perfect start from the Brit saw him maintain the lead out of the first chicane.
While it is virtually impossible to manage both cars on the run down to turn 1, McLaren should have had an agreement before the race about working together into the second chicane. Instead, Piastri attacked and took the lead with a very aggressive but fair pass. Norris was out of shape and lost position to Leclerc as well.
The Italian Grand Prix was a weekend where Red Bull had no pace compared to the top 3 teams, with Max Verstappen limping to P6. A win for the Brit would have reduced the gap to 53 points, but he crossed the line in P3.
Graining might have ultimately cost them victory to Charles Leclerc, but it has to be said how McLaren managed things was extremely poor. Heading into the race at Monza, Norris was 46 points clear of his Australian teammate.
Although nobody wants to see team orders, they make perfect sense sometimes. McLaren will need to be more ruthless next year if they are in a similar scenario against Ferrari, Mercedes or Red Bull.
The positives Norris can take into 2025
There is a lot of good elements Norris can take into next year. He now knows the level he needs to be at to be a World Champion over the course of a 24-race season. Relentless brilliance and consistency is key.
After getting a lesson from Verstappen at COTA, Norris adapted and was brilliant a week later in Mexico. He made a superb move on the brakes into turn 4 and was pushed off. A couple of corners later, Verstappen had a moment of craziness as he lunged from way back that saw both drivers end up off the track. The 25-year-old managed things perfectly that day.
The McLaren driver had shown he learned from previous errors in wheel-to-wheel combat earlier in the year. He knows to deliver that throughout next season.
Race pace, qualifying speed, and excellent tyre management — Norris has all that in his locker.
The better McLaren driver by a solid distance
Norris comfortably saw off Piastri in 2024 in the Grand Prix qualifying head-to-head, taking it out 20-4.
On a Sunday, the only area you can say the Australian was better in race craft. While there was the odd weekend that Piastri had very strong race pace, Norris generally held a solid advantage.
For example, in Singapore, the Brit finished 41.8s ahead. At Zandvoort, the gap was 27.3s. Although Piastri got knocked out in Q1 at the Mexico City GP, a gap of over a minute was damning. A 82-point gap at the end of the campaign was a fair reflection of things.
All the evidence of 2023 and 2024 suggests Norris will be the lead McLaren driver next season. The question is, can he deliver if the Woking-based team gives him the car required again next year? Time will tell.
