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Norris makes it clear: 'Max isn't going to be the guy'
- Savannah Lenz
As the 2024 season ended with Max verstappen taking his fourth consecutive championship, he is the one to beat. However, towards the end of the season, the competition between McLaren and Ferrari was very close. Lando Norris thinks that the season will start that way as well. In an interview with ESPN, he mentioned his future competition.
After the Miami Grand Prix, Norris had the better car across most tracks. Red Bull Racing's RB20 was unstable and incapable of performing at the highest level in most Grand Prix. Norris won his first race, and three more, over the 2024 Formula 1 season. Before losing out to Verstappen, the British driver hunted the Dutchman down for the first place in the drivers' championship standings.
Norris about Verstappen in 2025
Norris said, "I don't think Max is going to be just the guy. I think it's going to be everyone. I don't think there's going to be any more interviews where I'm just talking about Max."
While he doesn't think Verstappen will be the only one, he does admit that Verstappen is the one people are talking about. "When you talk about who is the driver to beat, then you would probably say Max; he's won the last [four] championships in a row. So he's definitely the guy to beat."
After winning the constructors championship for the first time ever in his career and for the first time in 26 years for McLaren, Norris said, "We're coming into this season with our heads higher than ever, with higher expectations from ourselves because we've never started the season strong."
He continued, "Quite simply, it doesn't sound good. And I'm not proud of saying that. But we've not started the season on the right foot at any point, and we’re hoping that this is the season where we can, and that’ll put us in a much stronger position to go into the start of the season from that point onwards instead of having to play catchup. We can just be strong from the beginning."
He concluded, "There are many different points, but Max isn't going to be the guy; it's going to be many. It's going to be all the others, and I'm excited to see what we can do."
This article was written in collaboration with Esteban den Toom.
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