Whatever happens for Lando Norris over the remaining ten rounds of the 2024 season, this has already been the most important season of his Formula 1 career so far.
After several years of seemingly being stuck just below the highest echelon on the grid, regularly in the top five, snatching the occasional podium but unable to compete for victories, Norris was hoping to make that final step forward with McLaren in 2024.So far, Norris has shown that while he is not the finished article, he is not intimidated by the prospect of fighting against Max Verstappen on track for a world championship title.
McLaren did not start the season with a race winning car, appearing to lose ground to Red Bull over the winter compared to how close they were at the end of last season. Even so, Norris had a typically solid start to his campaign, finishing sixth in the season opener in Bahrain two places ahead of team mate Oscar Piastri. A gamble to stay out under a Safety Car in Jeddah did not pay off, ultimately, but while he finished eighth after a slow stop under green flag conditions, he was at least ahead of Lewis Hamilton.
By round three in Australia, McLaren had started to find more pace and Norris would never qualify or finish outside of the top five over the rest of the season to date. His Melbourne weekend was excellent, likely maximising his car’s performance as much as possible to take his first podium of the season in third behind the Ferraris, before finishing behind them again at the next round in Japan.
Soon, Norris became a regular on the podium and a factor at the very front of the field. He took pole for the sprint race in China but fell to fifth after failing to hang on around the outside of the long first corner, then beat Sergio Perez to claim second place in the grand prix by splitting the two Red Bulls on the podium.
Then came the weekend that will live with him for the rest of his life. In Miami, Norris looked like he could be on for a frustrating weekend after he was taken out at the start of the sprint race, but karma decided to pay him back on Sunday. After extending his opening stint in the grand prix, Norris was gifted a Safety Car within the perfect window that allowed him to change tyres and resume still in the lead. He duly pulled away at the restart and never looked back, taking the chequered flag first for the first time in his career in a highly popular victory.
Although fortune had favoured him in Miami, Norris would prove over the next rounds that he was now a genuine contender at every round. He was less than a second away from two victories in two races in Imola and probably would have got past Verstappen had the race been a lap or two longer. The racing gods would take back their Miami blessing in Canada, as a poorly timed Safety Car meant he lost the lead of the race in Montreal. However, he managed to pressure George Russell into a mistake late on to claim second place by the finish.
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Norris was now the main protagonist in the field alongside Verstappen, something he proved with pole in Barcelona. But after falling behind Russell and Verstappen at the start – which he admitted should have been better – Norris had to follow Verstappen home by a matter of seconds for the third time in the last four rounds.
The two would meet on track again at the next round in Austria, only this time the pair would end up clashing while battling for victory for the first time. Although he was adamant Verstappen had not left him enough space into turn three as the two collided, something the stewards agreed with, the damage he sustained recovering back to the pits with his puncture ultimately put him out of the race, while Verstappen was able to gain more points on him in the championship by reaching the finish.
Lando Norris
| Best | Worst | |
|---|---|---|
| GP start | 1 (x2) | 7 |
| GP finish | 1 | 20 |
| Points | 199 | |
He did not maximise his opportunities at his home grand prix at Silverstone, failing to get his best lap in during Q3 to line up behind the Mercedes, then losing valuable time by running too long in his pit box during his final stop before he was unable to keep Verstappen at bay in the closing laps. He had another golden opportunity for a second victory in Hungary after putting his car on pole, but lost the lead at the start – again – to team mate Piastri. Despite gaining the lead in the final pit cycle, he had been given an advantageous pit stop by his team out of concern for Hamilton behind. After several laps of pondering his team’s request to allow Piastri back through, Norris eventually obliged and handed the lead – and win – back to Piastri, later admitting he never deserved to be out front to begin with.
Aside from a handful of minor errors and some race starts that could have been better, Norris has clearly been one of the most outstanding performers of the season so far. While his team mate has been excellent in his own right, Norris has been comfortably ahead of his team mate more often than not.
To even have people discussing him as having even a very outside chance of fighting Verstappen for the championship at this stage of the season after the start that McLaren had compared to Red Bull is a testament to the job both team and driver have done so far in 2024. But even if Norris will likely lose out over the rest of the year, he has successfully established himself as a driver who can fight for regular wins and for world championship titles.
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Formula 1
- Three F1 drivers to make early start with new teams in Yas Marina test on Tuesday
- Tributes and cheeky doughnuts: How departing F1 drivers signed off on their radios
- Red Bull left it as late as possible to tell Verstappen about his latest penalty
- Fights with Verstappen showed where I need to improve next year – Norris
- Bollard incident in qualifying cost Hamilton shot at final Mercedes win – Wolff
Aquila_GD
16th August 2024, 7:23
I absolutely disagree with this rating.
I would rate Russell and Hamilton ahead of Norris and Piastri for this first half.
Mclaren and Red Bull clearly have the fastest car and its only beacuse McLaren has underperformed that Verstappen still has such a large lead.
MacLeod (@macleod)
16th August 2024, 8:10
I can agree with your comment as I would swap Oscar and Lando. Lando did inproved but as the most experienced driver made more mistakes then the driver who started his second season. Still we have to keep in mind the role of McLaren as how much can we blame the drivers for their mistakes?
RBAlonso (@rbalonso)
16th August 2024, 8:58
Swap Oscar and Lando?
Lando is ahead 11-3 in quali and 9-5 in races. Of those 5 races, one had team orders, one was the non stop Monaco and one was Austria where Lando was ahead until the contact with Max. By no metric is Oscar beating Lando.
pcxmac (@pcxmac)
16th August 2024, 15:00
pretty much. There is an impetus right now by Liberty and the media to push younger and younger drivers, which is why Toto is going for a guy who has not proven him self in F2, but by chance, not through consistency.
The idea is to toss out the old demographic, and ‘revolve’ in to a newer more ‘drama’ / fake racing version of F1.
Should be interesting to see how many more ‘control’ aspects come in to F1 in order to give the rule makers more control over the final outcomes of the races.
Max was supposed to christen the ‘new era’ post covid, but HAM just doesn’t know how to lose, especially to inferior competition that needs to cheat and bully its way through the field.
RBAlonso (@rbalonso)
16th August 2024, 16:01
Young drivers have always been there. Max was in at 17 before Liberty joined, Kimi was racing in F1 after 16 car races at 18. Bruce McLaren was 20 when he started, Rega won a race at 21.
Motor racing has always been for those in their mid to late 20s, like football where sports science gains and better preparation have brought that age down. Couple that with super expensive junior formulae and it makes sense to promote young drivers.
Antonelli is getting in as Toto misses out on Max and Vesti made a mess of F2 last season, as well as no longer having a junior team in Williams.
Moreover, I’m not really sure how any of this relates to my comment at all. Is the conspiracy to suggest a 23yo is doing a better job than the 24yo because he’s a year younger?
pcxmac (@pcxmac)
17th August 2024, 21:45
kind of a stretch to take the phrase “pretty much” and turn it in to a ‘conspiracy theory’ eh ?
No, there’s clearly a demographic push, downward in F1. Because why on earth would Mercedes prop up someone whose shown almost no talent, and a little luck in F2 as the next Max Verstappen, whose only real success, by the way came after being handed a championship in 21 and driving a regulation beating car since.
Its fake, the competition in F1 is about keeping outsiders, outside. Antonelli is only a property for Toto to build up and manage along with his other ‘properties’. The whole ‘ground effects era’ is just a way to paper over the fact that Max was allowed to cheat his way to the top and to be come some ‘idol’ for a younger crowd to digest. Its all garbage, just like the ‘curbs’ in Miami, all pedaled by a nonsense speaking media that use ‘narrative triggers’ to control people’s opinions.
F1 frog (@f1frog)
16th August 2024, 9:40
Lando Norris was been well ahead of Oscar Piastri this year. The races he could have won but didn’t would include Canada, where Norris was ahead all race. Spain where Norris just missed out due to a poor start, but Piastri was miles behind due to the qualifying mistake. Austria where Verstappen hit Norris and Piastri’s track limits error meant he wasn’t even there to capitalise and lost to a clearly inferior car in George Russell’s Mercedes. In Silverstone, there were strategic errors on both cars so you can’t totally blame Norris for that, but Norris was still ahead all race. Even in Hungary, Piastri was losing time to Norris after the pitstop malarky when he had newer tyres and should have been able to close up. Belgium was the first time that Piastri had really been better than Norris since Monaco, and even then they both lost to a slower Mercedes (it was a very bad weekend for Norris). Imola was also unlucky for Piastri. And early season, Norris had that outstanding drive in China to beat Perez’s much faster Red Bull.
I think Norris’s mistakes this season have been very overstated, and he is absolutely deserving of second spot, although George Russell has also had an excellent season and isn’t far behind. Leclerc and Piastri are next but Verstappen, Norris and Russell are very much the standouts of the season.
MacLeod (@macleod)
16th August 2024, 14:11
@rbalonso That is why I held Lando on way more critical value’s and kind of dissapointed us. I can’t hold Oscar on the same value’s as Lando as he is just a newbie with 1 year experience and Lando 7 years (from memory) and Oscar did very well.
Maybe Oscar second is a bit too high maybe third and fourth (Oscar and Lando)
@f1frog Maybe I hold Lando too harsh on his mistakes but He should be top 4.
RBAlonso (@rbalonso)
16th August 2024, 16:08
Lando has more experience, but I think his errors have been massively overstated in general. Is giving your teammate space in the first corner like Hungary a really poor, basic error? Is not overruling your team for tyres in Silverstone a grave mistake?
Lando’s form in the last 10 races is 1 win, 5 2nds, 1 3rd, 1 4th, 1 5th and a 20th (where he was in contention for the lead until contact that wasn’t his fault). Could Lando improve? Certainly but he’s not throwing it in the fence like Charles was when he was in a similar position, or like George did last year in Singapore. His dev
RBAlonso (@rbalonso)
16th August 2024, 16:09
His development comes in emotional maturity, which at 24yo I can und
RBAlonso (@rbalonso)
16th August 2024, 9:00
Hamilton is not having a strong season.
Russell has made just as many silly errors as Lando has – Australia in the wall, Spain wrong strategy, failed to maximise Canada, off the road and behind Lewis in Silverstone. Russell is performing well but not better than Lando.
Mayrton
18th August 2024, 18:10
I agree, but also noticed before people have a hard time distinguishing half or a full season and the last race(s) of a series. Momentum and overall performance are two different things.
Jere (@jerejj)
16th August 2024, 7:26
So I rather easily assumed everything correctly after Piastri got ranked fourth.
Simon
16th August 2024, 20:53
https://giphy.com/gifs/XGyUFKuSY5T4Kg5ayA
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
17th August 2024, 1:33
Yes, it was surprising russell was 3rd until piastri 4th was revealed, I think it was very difficult until then to order the top 8-3.
MichaelN
16th August 2024, 8:42
Norris has been quick, but he has failed to capitalise too often, arguably way too often, to be ranked the 2nd best on the grid. Still, here’s hoping both he and McLaren can grow into their new role. The sooner they do so, the better.
RBAlonso (@rbalonso)
16th August 2024, 9:02
I think the point is that multiple drivers can claim to have very strong ‘on’ days and very poor ‘off’ days. How bad have Lando’s ‘off’ days really been? Worse than George in the wall in Australia or Charles Austria weekend?
Keith Campbell (@keithedin)
16th August 2024, 8:56
There is little to choose between the drivers ranked from 2nd to about 7th or 8th. All drivers have had their highlights, and all drivers have made multiple mistakes or had multiple weekends where they performed below par. Overall I think Norris in second is probably right, but you can make reasonable arguments for most of those contenders to be anywhere within that range.
Martin (@f1hornet)
16th August 2024, 9:37
I agree. I think the truth is there’s a big gap between #1 and everyone else. Each of those #2 to #8 drivers feels like they’ve had great days and totally off days and so in the rankings feel like they shouldn’t be placed just behind Max. But then I try to think of other drivers that clearly deserve to be in front of them and I struggle. I think Lando probably has been the second best so far this season, but it also feels like he’s had a bit more luck than his team mate.
Keith Campbell (@keithedin)
16th August 2024, 10:38
@f1hornet Yeah, it feels like that’s what i’ve been seeing in the comments for all those drivers too. Everyone says “driver X doesn’t deserve to be at this ranking”, but then struggle to justify why another should be placed above them.
notagrumpyfan
16th August 2024, 19:14
Many commenters still struggle with the concept of a ranking: “cannot be ranked this high/liw”; “too many/few places between drivers X and Y”.
They believe every ranking step is the same performance step.
Maybe Will should keep it simple and award all drivers a participation sticker.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
17th August 2024, 1:37
If they had some kind of performance average they could use that, and get something like verstappen: average 9, norris: average 8,2, russell: average 7,8, stuff like that, which would give omre of an idea of who is close or not.
Obviously they can’t use the average driver ratings because then hamilton would be way too far back, and I’m not saying there’s bias towards english drivers, I’m saying some drivers are rated consistently low for their performances compared to others in that rating system.
Phil Norman (@phil-f1-21)
16th August 2024, 12:55
Max is clearly no. 1 but it’s all very close in the chasing pack. Any of them could appear anywhere between positions 2 and 8 by the end of the season. With the possible exception of Hulkenberg.
One thing to note is that Lando is a poor starter. I think I read that if he’s on pole, he has always lost the position on the first lap. This is not helping. But I would have had him at no.2 I think.
Edvaldo
16th August 2024, 13:34
He’s being flattered by the car.
A driver who often talks about what he should have done differently after a disappointing result, yet he’s top 2 here and i have no claims about it.
Norris is in his 6th season, he should be better than this and more assured in his decisions already, that’s costing them better results. And costing us better entertainment. To put Max under pressure to make mistakes and act more defensively thinking about the WDC. He never came even close to doing that by himself.
pcxmac (@pcxmac)
16th August 2024, 15:02
Lando is racing in spite of his team’s efforts to hamstring his starts and make sure Oscar gets wins. Lando’s greatest strength opposed to Oscar is his overall race pace, thats why if his starts suck, which can be caused by his team not pay attention, he can lose almost the whole race, especially if his team gives priority to Oscar.
Edvaldo
16th August 2024, 15:20
No. His bad starts are his fault. The Spa one he himself admitted it was embarrassing and you’re here blaming the team? Really?
notagrumpyfan
16th August 2024, 19:18
Enlighten us, Einstein!
Dane
16th August 2024, 13:55
I feel like Norris has made too make mistakes or at least failed to capitalize on opportunities to be ranked #2. Other drivers get every point available to outperform their cars and while that’s sometimes the case for Lando I don’t think he does it with the consistency to be called the best driver not named Verstappen.
Bob
16th August 2024, 16:07
exactly, how can you be mistake ridden, but be the 2nd best driver on the grid in the fastest car on the grid failing to win races because you keep messing up…… Mean while, we have others who got what was expected, made no mistakes, got out of the car what was expected, but are rated lower………. how does that even happen…….
Bob
16th August 2024, 16:00
Have to say, the rankings dont make sense, as mentioned in the article, we have Lando with loads of mistakes, costing his team points, both drivers and constructors, failing to win in the best car on the grid gets 2nd place, while others meeting expectations and delievery what the car is capable of and even winning races Redbull or Mclaren should have won.
How did Mr mistake at nearlly every race, manage to get 2nd? he has the fastest car, he SHOULD be winning them all.
Expected to win but doesnt is ” poor ” not 2nd best on the grid……
Keith Campbell (@keithedin)
16th August 2024, 17:16
Which driver placed behind Norris in these rankings has been “meeting expectations and delivery what the car is capable of” consistently throughout this year? None have, and that’s the point. All drivers have either made mistakes, or not maximised the result their car was capable of – as illustrated by their teammate – at various times throughout the year.
Bob
16th August 2024, 20:11
Like hulk?
I cant see how the person with the fastest car, who has failed to win because of his own mistakes is worthy of 2nd place. I dont see how GR is 3rd, how is OP 4th? cant argue with 1st… LH 8th? how do you explain such a gap of the two closets paring drivers on the grid being so far apart? with 0.003 ms average between them in q sessions…… Like really…. GR has made way way more mistakes than LH has, and more costly ones as well, but is higher? how? hasnt even had as many memorable drives…… but is 3rd? Surely GR should be at most just 1 place above LH? if at all given how many costly mistakes he has made…. How is CL and Sainz below OP? CL has made less mistakes, in a slower car, but is 10 points a head of the person rated 4th best on the grid in the fastest car on the grid, like WTH? How? How is Sainz so far off OP with the 4th fastest car, whilst being just 5 points behind OP again, in the fastest car on the grid? didnt even get a free via team orders either…. like come on…
So yes, The rankings dont make any sense what so ever. drivers are obviously being treated / ranked differently, which makes it feel like a mockery of each drivers relative performance during the first part of the season.
Its like fastest car not winning when expected too becasue of driver errors equals a great performance, while winning / making podium in 3rd – 4th fastest car is meaningless… It should be the other way around no?
Keith Campbell (@keithedin)
17th August 2024, 8:25
I think most of these issues are explained well enough in the articles for each driver. Hulk has been good, but he has still been beaten by Magnussen – a driver who is not highly rated compared to most of the top team drivers – a few times and had races where he clearly just didn’t have the pace. Hamilton had maybe 8 poor/mediocre races at the start of the season where he qualified badly and didn’t make it up in the races, hence him being behind on almost every stat to Russel apart from points. Leclerc and Sainz are possibly victims of how evenly matched they are, because every time their teammate finishes ahead you can say they have failed to maximise their results, but they have both had off weekends too. Oscar is the one I think is slightly overrated in these rankings at 4th, so I feel like he is still getting some ‘rookie credit’ where he is not being penalised as much for off weekends and mistakes because of his lack of experience.
Like I said before, there are reasons you could put positions 2-8 in any order depending on what you value most in the driver and your own subjective opinions, so I don’t really see the point in getting wound up that someone has a different opinion to yours.
notagrumpyfan
16th August 2024, 19:25
His biggest mistake is openly admitting that he made mistakes, rather than focussing on the 99% he did well.
Bob, and other casual viewers, seem to miss the mistakes of other drivers unless those drivers openly admit it.
I think only Hulkenberg and Albon are the other drivers who admit to mistakes, and of course Verstappen after he lapped the field ;)
Bob
16th August 2024, 20:17
If you have the ” fasterst car on the grid ” and are ” expected ” to win, but dont becasue you ( Not the team ) keep making mistakes and losing points and are closer to 3rd than 1st in the championship, you should not be ranked the 2nd best driver on the grid….. The 2nd best driver on the grid with the fastest car on the grid is at least expected to be winning races consistently.. not messing it up consistently.
Just having the fastest car on the grid means you are expect to win most if not all races, See Max last year, Max year before, Max and LH year before, LH year before and so on and so on and so on…..
notagrumpyfan
17th August 2024, 7:43
Bob,
You keep on making the same mistake as many casual viewers; you only argue why Norris can’t be second without making an argument of who else should be ahead of him in the ranking.
It’s easy to identify Norris’ mistakes (he talks about it openly and unprompted), but more experienced fans can see the mistakes the other drivers made as well.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
17th August 2024, 14:09
Yes, I wasn’t fully sure norris deserved to be second, but I don’t know who else should’ve been, at least he was consistently fast, way faster than piastri on average, hamilton had many off weekends, russell I don’t remember any clear flaw, but I think it was pretty unanimous that even ranking him 3rd was generous, let alone 2nd, leclerc didn’t even outperform sainz basically, as he should be expected to do, and sainz himself has been impressive early on, but a bit slower later on, I definitely can’t pick anyone who should clearly be above norris, apart from the obvious.
Paul (@frankjaeger)
16th August 2024, 19:50
People get their knickers in such a twist about Norris. So frantic to criticise after every little mistake, and sensationalise the past. Truth is, until about 2 races ago, Lando has generally outpaced Piastri since he joined McLaren. He’s had more critical opportunities than Piastri, Piastri hasn’t had half as many. Piastri is good, like Lando, and they’re both doing well in cars that have basically only just been able to beat the RB. Calm down.
Bob
16th August 2024, 20:28
If i had the fastest car on track, for 9 out of 14 races, and walked away with only 1 win, which was handed on a plate via a lucky timed safety car, i would be dissapointed in my own performance too……
For years all we have heard is Max only wins cause he has the best car, Or Lewis only wins cause he has the best car..
WELL LANDO CANT EVEN WIN IN THE BEST CAR. How is he the 2nd best driver on the grid…..
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
17th August 2024, 14:02
Agree, no matter that it’s not been a long time mclaren can challenge red bull, they definitely squandered a lot of opportunities, it’s ferrari-like behaviour.
David West
21st August 2024, 17:16
The nearly man. Not #2 in my opinion.