Lando Norris has unfinished business on the racetrack.
The McLaren star is coming off a breakthrough Formula 1 season, scoring four victories — including his first win in Miami — and eight pole positions. He led the team to its first constructors’ championship since 1998 and ended the season with a dominant victory. But he fell short of the ultimate goal, losing the driver’s championship to Red Bull rival Max Verstappen.
He’s determined to make amends for that as the 2025 season kicks off next week in Melbourne, Australia. Betting odds put Norris as the favorite to win the championship. And he has no qualms about it.
“It feels good. After last season, I guess that’s the expectation from everyone,” Norris said in a wide-ranging interview. “We’re feeling confident. Competition’s tough, so we kind of have to wait until Australia to see where we stack up. But knowing that everyone thinks that we’re going to be at the top, and that’s what they’re depending on, makes me happy.”
Norris, 25, is known to fans around the world for his affable and upbeat personality. He has an infectious laugh, and behind the gifted racer is someone who knows how to have fun. But over the last year, Norris' vibe has shifted. The sense of humor hasn't gone away, but he enters his seventh season in Formula 1 with a seriousness of purpose that was arguably lacking when McLaren was struggling to build a winning car.
For the first time, Norris begins an F1 season knowing he has the machinery to fight for the championship.
Norris' upside potential for the new season is tantalizing. Red Bull's dominance ended last year after its car hit a development ceiling, and McLaren made dramatic improvements that led it to constructors' glory. Preseason testing in Bahrain last month affirmed the papaya-colored team’s strengths — especially its long-run pace, which turned heads and impressed rivals.
“We definitely had a positive long-run pace, and that’s been one of our biggest strengths over the last year and a half,” Norris said. “So we’re definitely hoping to continue that this season, because that’s where the points are in the race. So that’s a good thing for us, but there’s no point guessing too much after just a test.”
He's expecting a battle in 2025 among four teams capable of winning races, including a Ferrari car he said is showing “high potential” as it poached seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton to drive alongside Charles Leclerc.
“They’ve been able to improve a lot. So I’m expecting them to be a good competition,” Norris said of Ferrari, the second-place team in 2024. “But I expect the same from Mercedes, and I expect Red Bull to also be good. But the form Ferrari had at the end of last year, they were probably our biggest competitors, more so than Red Bull.”
In the interview, Norris also dished on racing in the United States, revealed his favorite American track and offered his thoughts about the grid's funny drivers and trash-talkers. He gave his takes on Hamilton versus Leclerc in red and which sport he'd compete in besides Formula 1, and he delved into how realistic the F1 2024 PlayStation game is compared with the real-life cockpit.
A 2024 season of highs and lows
For Norris, 2024 was a year of what-ifs. What if McLaren didn’t make costly strategy errors? What if the team prioritized his title bid over teammate Oscar Piastri’s earlier in the season? What if Norris avoided his own slip-ups and converted more opportunities?
The truth is neither Norris nor McLaren expected a championship battle against a generational talent like Verstappen last year. And it turns out they weren't ready for it. Norris left valuable points on the table. His team let him down at times. And it didn't help that Verstappen built a 52-point lead in the first five races before McLaren took its winning upgrade package to Miami.
This year, they have no excuses.
“I made mistakes,” Norris said. “You try and learn from them and never let them happen again. But I made a couple last year, which, in hindsight, I would probably look back on and try to alter and change, but I cannot. So it’s more just understanding why I made those decisions. How can I improve on them for this season, and how can I make sure they don’t happen again?”
A mix of poor starts, inconsistent qualifying performances and tactical decisions in wheel-to-wheel combat with Verstappen were damaging. He spent some of the offseason analyzing them, saying he has learned “a lot of lessons” and will come back stronger.
Norris said Verstappen is a unique challenge because “he doesn’t really have any” weaknesses that can be exploited.
“He’s one of the best drivers ever in Formula 1. He’s designed for Formula 1 a lot more than I am,” Norris said of the four-time champion, who is the son of former F1 driver Jos Verstappen and professional racer and karting driver Sophie Kumpen.
A scene in the newly released season 7 of Netflix’s “Drive to Survive” shows Norris congratulating Verstappen after he clinched the title in Las Vegas. “Next year, I’ll get you!” Norris tells him.
Norris said his first victory in Miami was a high point of his 2024 season: “When you’re younger, you always dream of winning your first race in Formula 1 and what it feels like. So I got to experience that, and that was pretty, pretty amazing. Something I remember forever.”
And the low point? “Losing out in Silverstone” in the British Grand Prix, he said, when a poor strategy call by McLaren cost him the win. “It’s my home race. It’s our home race as a team. It’s a place you really, really want to win.”
Another question could come into play in a showdown with Verstappen, who is the clear No. 1 driver at Red Bull over Liam Lawson when it comes to preferential treatment. McLaren is different: CEO Zak Brown says he has “two No. 1 drivers.”
This year, will McLaren impose “papaya rules” earlier on to favor its driver with the best shot at the championship?
Piastri, 23, won two races with McLaren in 2024. The Australian exceeded many expectations in his second year and has aspirations of his own. He has no desire to play second fiddle to anyone. Norris may have to decisively beat Piastri again to earn the privilege that was given to him late last season.
“That's not even a question for now,” Norris said when he was asked about possible team orders. “These decisions come way, way later in the season. Oscar is a very competitive driver. We both are.”
Norris ended last season with a dominant lights-to-flag victory that clinched the constructors’ title for McLaren. He proclaimed on team radio, “Next year is going to be my year.” After having gotten acquainted with his new 2025 car, he still feels good about it.
With a major regulation change poised to reset the field in 2026, it’s far from clear when — or whether — Norris will get another shot at championship glory. He admitted it will be “a big challenge for us knowing how much to concentrate on ’25 or ’26” with car development. But he said McLaren's opportunity is strong this year.
“I’m confident; I’m relaxed. I’m focused on doing my job. But it’s a long season,” he said. “I feel ready to get going. But even whether we have an amazing start or a bad start, that doesn’t set up the season. As we proved last year, we can come from a long way back.”
