Lando Norris says he now has the belief and ability to fight the “best driver in the world” Max Verstappen after racing the Dutchman for the first time in 2024.
McLaren had another giant step forward this season which has enabled Norris and team-mate Oscar Piastri to take their first career wins, and gave Norris a chance to fight Verstappen for the drivers’ championship.
That has also led to Norris’ first proper wheel-to-wheel battles with the Dutchman, with the pair coming to blows in Austria before further skirmishes in Austin and Mexico.
And while both Norris and McLaren fell short of sustaining the Briton’s title bid, with Verstappen taking his fourth championship in Las Vegas, Norris feels he has learned a huge amount from his first campaign on F1’s front lines.
“A lot more positives and negatives, that’s for sure,” he reflected on 2024. “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 I have what it takes.
“I have some things to work on still, for sure, but I can fight against Max, and 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. So for me to put up a fight against him and to go wheel-to-wheel is something I love, I enjoy.
Lando Norris, McLaren MCL38
Photo by: Jordan McKean – Motorsport Images
“I’ll probably look back on a lot in 20 years or 30 years that I fought such a driver. I’m happy for him. He deserves the championship, but hopefully I can upset him more next year.”
Norris acknowledged Verstappen had “no downsides” after holding on to his lead in what has often not been the fastest car.
“He’s not put a foot wrong, really, the whole year. So 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. So, he’s not had any bad races the whole year.
“I think 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.
“As soon as we did put him under pressure, he made some mistakes, the team made mistakes. But over the course of the season, there’s been very few, and that’s what makes him so good.”
