OPINION: Norris needs to show progression if he is to become Champion
We’re days away from the first race of the 2025 Formula 1 season, and soon the rumours, opinions and guesstimations will lay the way clear for cold hard facts. But while we’re still in the unknown, the feeling largely that Lando Norris will be the driver to beat based on pre-season testing.
But for me, that is a stretch. Even Norris has poured cold water on the claims that his McLaren will be the fastest car on the field based on pre-season testing simulations. Norris points out that while his simulations were impressive – his car was ran a second quicker than Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari – that could be down to any number of variables. What can’t be disputed is that Oscar Piastri’s results, obviously with the same car, were far less impressive.
Either way, if Norris is going to win the World Championship, some things have to change, like his ability to convert pole positions into race victories. Of the eight poles Norris got last year, just three turned into wins.
Spain, his first pole of the season, was a sign of things to come. As Norris aggressively defended Verstappen away from the line, Russell blindsided him around the outside, dropping Norris from first to third in a stroke. Monza was another poor advertisement for Norris’ talents away from the line, this time he nailed the start but was caught napping as Piastri slipped through around the outside of the second chicane.
Norris seems affected by the bouts of self-doubt Champions galvanised from time to time in 2024, as he reflected on mistakes and missed opportunities.
Spain, his first pole of the season, was a sign of things to come. As Norris aggressively defended Verstappen away from the line, Russell blindsided him around the outside, dropping Lando from pole position to third in a stroke. Monza was another poor advertisement for Norris’ talents away from the line, this time, he nailed the start but was caught napping as Oscar Piastri slipped through around the outside of the second chicane.
In Austria, in a faster car, he looked all out of ideas battling with Verstappen. The Dutchman may well have driven him off the track, but there are probably fewer better signs of a World Champion: Vettel, Senna, and Schumacher would all send their rivals into the tyres to win. Norris appeared helpless in the face of this aggression.
As for McLaren itself, the car may be quick but does the team have the mentality to win a Drivers’ Championship? Its performance at Silverstone casts some doubt on this, its failure to double-stack the cars cost Norris the win. Overall, the team’s 2024 performance was blighted by a failure to choose a lead driver and a lack of decisiveness in decisions that often seemed to weigh too heavily towards Norris who, somewhere predisposed with the task of keeping an F1 car on track, lacked the benefit of the full picture to make the correct strategic move.
Even if the McLaren is the fastest car by a country mile, Norris is not home and dry; Oscar Piastri has demonstrated the steely determination, maturity and inner confidence of a driver who’s there to do anything to win.
Sunday won’t hold all the answers, but it will be a fascinating insight into what’s to come for the Norris and McLaren in 2025.
Images courtesy of Getty Images.
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