Following a fourth World Championship title for Max Verstappen, Lando Norris reflects on his season-long F1 championship fight, offering candid insights into his rival’s performance, McLaren’s progress, and his aspirations for the future.
Norris, the closest challenger this season to Verstappen, balanced admiration with competitive resolve when discussing the newly crowned F1 champion.
“My thoughts are fine. Massive congrats to him. He’s deserved it,” Norris stated. “He’s not put a foot wrong, really, the whole year. That’s a strength of his.”
“He has no downsides. He has no negatives. When he’s had the quickest car, he dominated races. When he’s not in the quickest car, he’s still been just behind us and almost winning the races anyway.”
The praise for Verstappen from Norris was unequivocal, highlighting the Dutchman’s ability to dominate in the quickest F1 car and still challenge for wins even when not in the fastest machinery.
Norris explained, “He’s just not had a bad side to him. He’s not had any bad races the whole year.”
“His worst or something was like a fifth. He’s just drove as Max has always driven, which is perfectly, and I can’t fault him in any way.”
Admiration meets ambition
When asked if there’s anything to learn from Verstappen and his F1 approach, Norris acknowledged the importance of experience but hinted that more intense competition might have exposed cracks in the Dutchman’s armour.
“Yeah, some of his experience. I think he’s still had a relatively easy season. If we had a better car at the beginning of the year, we would have been fighting him a lot more, and he would have been a lot more under pressure than he’s ever been. I think we put him under pressure as soon as we did.
“He made mistakes, and it showed that he made mistakes, but over the course of the season that’s very few in terms of what he’s done, and that’s what makes him so good. He’s not had a bad qualifying, he’s not had a bad race. I think his worst race was probably Budapest or something, and he still finished fourth or fifth.
“He just gets everything out of the car every time, and that’s always impressive to see. Always things to learn.”
Proud of McLaren’s progress
Despite falling short in the championship battle, Norris was effusive about McLaren’s strides forward this year. Norris pointed out McLaren’s remarkable progress from being the fourth-best team at the season’s start to becoming Verstappen’s primary challenger.
“I’m very proud of the whole team for putting up the fight for so long, for starting to catch up and catching up as much as we did. We were the fourth-best team at the beginning of the year. Red Bull have never been the fourth-best team or worse, let’s say, ever.
“We had just too big of a deficit to catch up from the beginning of the season, and we could not because they’ve been too strong still. Next year, we’ll go into the season with a car we think we can win a championship with from round one, and we’ve not been able to do that for the last six years, so I’m excited for that.
“But I’m proud of what we’ve achieved. My first win in Formula 1, my first three. No one else is there fighting him. It’s been me, and it’s been McLaren, so I’m proud of what we’ve achieved.
“Could we have done some things better? Absolutely. Do I think we could have won the championship even with a perfect season? I don’t, so I’m happy to finish second still.”
Challenges in Las Vegas
The Las Vegas Grand Prix posed unique difficulties for Norris and McLaren, with the cold conditions proving particularly problematic.
“It’s too difficult to drive; it doesn’t work in these conditions,” Norris explained. “It doesn’t work in many other tracks where we’ve had similar conditions, but we’ve been able to get everything out of it sometimes. Even when people think we’ve had the best car, we’ve absolutely not.”
“We still won some of those races, and those were the great weekends. But this weekend, even if I feel like I drove pretty well, I couldn’t have got anything more out of it, and if I tried, I probably would have ended up in a wall somewhere.”
Looking ahead to high-speed circuits, Norris pointed out Red Bull’s enduring superiority.
“Many things have changed since last year, but these high-speed circuits I think will suit the Red Bull extremely well. Red Bull are still by a mile the best car in high-speed, so I’m not expecting us to be the favourites. But I think we absolutely have a car that can fight a lot more than we have this weekend.”
Looking to 2025
As the season draws to a close, Norris remained optimistic about his development and McLaren’s prospects. When asked about the 2025 season, Norris said, “A lot more positives than negatives, that’s for sure.”
“I feel like I can fight for a championship, and I’m happy, and I can say that confidently. I have what it takes, and I know that deep down that I have what it takes.
“I have some things to work on still, for sure, but I can fight against Max. I’ll be happy to say that because I think Max is the best driver in the world and probably one of the best drivers that’s ever been in Formula 1.
“Many people might disagree, but I’m quite confident when I say that, which is rare. For me to put up a fight against him and to go wheel-to-wheel is something I love, I enjoy. I’ll probably look back on a lot in 20 or 30 years that I’ve fought such a driver.
“I’m happy for him. He deserves a championship, but hopefully, I can upset him more next year.”
