Lando Norris acknowledged he will have to do better when he fights Max Verstappen on-track than he has done this year.
McLaren clinched the constructors’ championship yesterday but Norris lost the drivers’ title fight to the Red Bull driver two rounds earlier.Norris had never won a grand prix before the season began. He said this year gave him the belief he can fight for the championship in the future.
“I don’t believe in a lot of things but the one thing I’ve learned this year is probably to believe in myself a bit more,” said Norris after winning yesterday’s season finale in Abu Dhabi.
“I know myself, and I know more and better than anyone what I need to improve on, where I’m not strong enough, where I’m strong enough. I’m always open for criticism, things like that. But I’m the one who knows better than the others – not in an arrogant way or a selfish way – but I know that I have to improve in a lot of areas and certain things.”
The McLaren driver out-qualified team mate Oscar Piastri for 20 out of 24 grands prix this year. He said his single-lap pace is an area where he has clearly improved.
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“When you look at my qualifying performances, for instance, they’ve been almost twice as good as I was last year, especially comparing to the other guys in exactly the same car,” he said. “So I’ve definitely stepped it up at a good level this season.”
“I remember 12 months ago here I messed up my quali three lap, a lap that I should have done P2 when I had a big slide in [turns] 12 and 13,” he explained. “I was pretty annoyed with myself post-quali and that was what everyone spoke about then.
“But that’s not really happened this year. I’ve closed off my quali laps. I’ve improved in all those areas.”
However, although Norris believes 2024 was “my best season [for] performance, personally” he admitted “probably it wasn’t” good enough. There were too many times when he missed opportunities to take points off the driver who won the championship.
“I obviously lost out on a few things,” said Norris. “There were maybe three starts this year which lost me one or two positions at times – but they were positions quite often just to Max, or it was Budapest and one to Oscar and little things like that.
“But none of them, when I look back on them, made me feel like I’ve not got what it takes, and those moments only came when it was directly against Max. And it’s Max: Going up against Max in any state is always going to be tricky. No one has a nice time racing Max.”
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The two championship rivals first clashed in Austria, where both cars sustained damaged but Verstappen out-scored Norris despite being penalised. Verstappen frustrated Norris’s attempts to pass him at the United States Grand Prix in Austin, where the McLaren driver received a penalty which cost him more points to the Red Bull driver.
“I think Mexico was a bit of a turning point when it was proved that not everything he does is perfect,” said Norris. “I think if we all go back to Austin and go back to turn 12, the majority of – I say, almost everyone on the grid – drivers and also externally, disagreed with the fact I got the penalty. We either both should not have got one or we both should have got one.”
He described battling Verstappen as having a “toe-to-toe fight with one of the best in the world,” but pointed out he approached those situations at a disadvantage having lost so many points to Verstappen earlier in the season.
“What you don’t see on the outside are some of those moments where if I did certain things, we would have crashed. People on the outside have no idea what it takes [in] those moments where you accept losing a battle.
“That is the case and that was because of where we were in the first six or seven races of the year. We lost too many points and I was just in that position where I couldn’t gain as much as what I needed to and wanted to.
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“But I’m not using any of these as excuses. I’m saying I didn’t have what it took this season to fight against Max and deliver what I needed to deliver. But it certainly gave me the feeling of, ‘okay, if I improve this little bit here, this little bit here’, for the first time, I have confidence in saying I’ve definitely got what it takes.”
Norris said he has already seen signs in the final races that he has improved his performance to another level. “I feel like I’ve already done that quite a lot in the last three, four, five races. I feel like I’ve delivered some very strong results.
“But on the whole, next year is hopefully a year where I can go in and decide before the first race we’re going to fight for a championship. We’ve not ever thought of that. We’ve not even had the feeling of it from a team perspective and also for me as a driver.
“So hopefully the next year is that year. We obviously have a lot of work to do. Ferrari are going to be pushing a lot. But that’s another year. For now, I’m just going to celebrate with my team tonight and celebrate what they deserve.”
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Leo B
9th December 2024, 12:18
Unfortunately for Norris, Piastri also knows where he needs to improve for next year. Then there’s Max who might be even better himself (if that is at all possible).
Edvaldo
9th December 2024, 13:29
It’s much easier to fix Norris’s problems than Piastri’s.
Norris needs to work on his starts and racecraft, nothing else. It doesn’t mean he’ll be a WDC doing just that, but it will be enough to capitalize on the opportunities the equipment can offer most of the time.
Piastri on the other hand needs to be faster, a lot faster, if he wants to be a part of the big boys club more than a couple of times a year.
Norris left plenty of wins up for grabs and Piastri was not there to collect them. Not even once. So he has plenty of things to improve too.
MichaelN
9th December 2024, 14:55
Very true, Piastri looked to be on a solid upwards path late last year, but this year has put a bit of a damper on my expectations for him. It’s very hard to “get faster”, and aside from a few exceptions he just didn’t have Norris’ pace.
On the other hand, we also shouldn’t overstate the qualifying head to head. Yes, Norris trounced him, but the average positions were very close. This was nothing like Verstappen vs. Pérez, and much more like Leclerc and Sainz.
Still, if McLaren has a competitive car again next season, the easier bet would be for Norris to lead the charge.
SPArtacus
11th December 2024, 4:02
Been saying this from day 1. Glad everyone else has joined me on the same page. It hasn’t gotten any attention from the F1 media, but it’s certainly gotten a lot from the fans: Oscar was probably the biggest disappointment in terms of big names along with his teammate, but Lando can likely fix his issues. Speed has never been an issue that could be solved. The only hope I see for Oscar is that the 2026 spec transforms his performances.
pcxmac (@pcxmac)
12th December 2024, 19:53
Norris needs a better handle on how hard he can push his tires at the beginning of a race, and how to judge the trade off’s with respect to the first couple of laps and over the first stint. It’s an optimization problem some engineers, some calculus, and a computer program can deduce for him on the fly.
Norris problem hasnt anything to do with starts (thats a team/procedural issue), or his aggression, it’s his ability to make those crucial calculations, which he needs to find a way to offload to his engineer in order to ‘optimize’. The performance curve of a tire as you turn it on, and through a stint changes based on how hard you initially fire up the tires and what limits you put the tires too. It’s not hard to figure out though, if you know what to look for, I believe.
Roy Beedrill
9th December 2024, 15:09
Yeah I remember some people’s comments about this throughout the season, like if Lando keeps doing mistakes next year he’s risking to start being beaten by Oscar eventually. But looking at this qualifying stat now, I’m surprised, I didn’t think it was that bad for Oscar. Which makes me really doubt about his potential in the future.
Like, I see Lando as someone like Rosberg: he can win WDC, but being in the fastest car won’t be enough, he will still need to put a gigantic amount of self-concentration and determination into every session, otherwise he’s just unable to drive as brilliant as the guys who can do it just naturally (Max and Lewis respectfully) because they just happen to have ‘it’ (call it a talent if you want).
Oscar is, on the other hand, is just a safe pair of hands, a perfect second driver: calm and reliable, which makes him consistent, but doesn’t allow him to challenge for the victory every single time. It’s easier to make a fast but unreliable car reliable rather than make a slow and reliable car fast. Same goes for a driver.
David
9th December 2024, 12:30
Lando has had a good season. I particular he’s been strong against the clock. If McLaren build another fast car, that will be enough to win races and maybe more.
He doesn’t have the racing instinct of someone like Max, and I’m not sure that is something he can learn. But he can toughen up mentally, and stop dwelling on his failures. That is something that is common among young Britons but it isn’t a good mentality for a sportsman. Fortunately he seems to be maturing (at last).
Kribana (@krichelle)
9th December 2024, 12:57
But as we saw yesterday, if Verstappen fights another driver who is not scared like Piastri (I thought Piastri was going to give room there, but surprisingly not) bad consequences can happen for both drivers. Norris’ aggression in Austria was the correct way to fight Verstappen and the way Hamilton defended against him in Hungary (I still don’t know how Verstappen’s car survived that impact on the ground)
Jojo
9th December 2024, 20:43
Piastri left room, just not a lot and I think given that the constructors was at stake, he probably would have left more room if he had realised Verstappen was right there. I’m fairly sure he didn’t see him until it was too late to move over more and similarly Verstappen realised too late that he needed to back out.
Moi
10th December 2024, 12:13
I think you are absolutely right.
It’s easy to forget sometimes that the drivers do not have the birds’ eye view of the action that we have, nor the reruns.
RH
15th December 2024, 17:33
Spot on. He was too focused on Sainz from the onboards.
Jim from US (@jimfromus)
9th December 2024, 14:47
If McLaren can have a competitive car, next year will look like the HAM vs VER battle of a few years ago. VER will continue to dive bomb as it is instinct for him now. All I see in my mind when he dive bombs is the Brasil race with VER 10 meters off the track with HAM 20 meters to avoid the contact. Of course VER was “ahead at the apex” so all within the rules, then.
femke
10th December 2024, 8:42
Its what “torpedo” kvyat got the boot for
David BR (@david-br)
9th December 2024, 15:05
Battling Verstappen for the title is essentially entering a world of chance (and potential pain). His Plan A, B and C in a title fight is intimidation and as soon as a rival appears, he’ll make the challenge. Team mates first, drivers of other teams next after he’s crushed the team mate. It’s Formula 1 level chicken. Hamilton at first tried another tactic in 2021 and came out worse virtually every time. Silverstone was the turning point – and obviously ignited outrage mayhem from the Max enablers at Red Bull. But Hamilton kept the same approach and ultimately could and should have been victorious by the end of the season. Leclerc is possibly the best race against Verstappen as he responded with equal aggression early on and showed Max what to expect. Lando Norris has never done the same. He needs to completely reset and next time Verstappen dive bombs him, stay on track and allow the collision. There is no other ‘solution’. Verstappen is one of the greatest all time drivers but also one of the worst racers as he’s pure hypocritical entitlement, happy to crash past but the first to complain when he receives the same. Norris failed completely to deal with that combination in 2024 and I don’t see him adjusting. But still, it would be great to be proved wrong.
Michael (@freelittlebirds)
9th December 2024, 17:07
@david-br Well put but Hamilton nearly died in 2021 for that championship and I have long said that Silverstone was not Hamilton’s fault. They were racing heading into the corner and Verstappen tried to cut without checking except at the last second. Hamilton tried to back off seeing that Verstappen was going to ram into him and Max tried to adjust but too late and got clipped.
It’s a racing incident at worse and if we want to assign blame Max was 65% at fault in the corner and 85% leading into the corner with the extra move and the squeezing.
Robert (@lekkerbek)
10th December 2024, 9:45
Lewis nearly died.
Racing incident at worst. Otherwise 65% -85% blame towards Verstappen.
Are you the site’s clown/troll poster?
Pretty new here, but this must be the most twisted version of Silverstone 2021 I’ve ever seen.
It’s apparent that you are not a fan of Verstappen, but this is next level nonsense.
David BR (@david-br)
10th December 2024, 12:54
I could easily be a fan of Verstappen but in racing, and other competitive aspects of life, I subscribe to a ‘warrior ethics’. If Max wants to risk 100% into any corner against a championship rival, then fine, but you have to ethically accept the same in return. Which he never does. There’s a difference between this version of ‘chicken’ (intimidating the rival to give way) and a fine judgment of the racing rules, what’s permissible, who was ahead et cetera, which Verstappen will always claim to be following (example: he claimed he was ahead at the apex versus Piastri in Abu Dhabi!) but seldom corresponds to reality. So it essentially translates as bullying behaviour – and Norris succumbed totally. Knowing that, Verstappen will carry on doing the same every time.
Edvaldo
9th December 2024, 21:59
The championship was already over and Max went for it in Qatar and Norris allowed it. It was so annoying. The guy was pushed around by Max the whole season under the pretext that contact favors Max, but then Max clinched the WCC and was still doing the same thing and he still backing out of it every time.
Norris should’ve won both races, in Qatar he seemed slightly faster and probably had the pace to win the race if he had not braked so soon leaving the door open to Max to take the lead and control the race.
SPArtacus
11th December 2024, 4:08
Lewis or Fernando would have never allowed him to get away with that. Even Leclerc races him tougher. I’m not sure if Norris is still really thinking of Max as a friend or what the issue has been.
SPArtacus
11th December 2024, 4:06
Lewis almost died. No. Not even close. Max faced 100x more danger when Lewis sent him rocketing into the wall. But F1 is so safe now neither was in much danger at all. These are just absurd hyperbolic arguments. The biggest problem with Max aren’t his passing moves. It’s his often unsporting defense.
RH
15th December 2024, 17:34
Some more of the tears please!