Norris on 'faultless' Verstappen: "One of the best drivers ever"
Red Bull Content Pool
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Lando Norris is ready to fight for the world title in 2025, after the previous season, he finished second behind Max Verstappen. However, the Briton also underlined that this season, he not only has to defeat the Dutchman, but every other rival as well.
Norris explained he has quite a task ahead of him to challenge Max Verstappen this campaign, as according to him, the Red Bull driver was 'made' for F1. When asked about whether he could spot weaknesses the Dutchman has the previous season, Norris answered in the negative. "He doesn’t really have any. He’s one of the best drivers ever in Formula One. He’s designed for a Formula One a lot more than I am and he’s a challenge to go up against and a challenge to beat," he began to NBC News.
While McLaren are the favourites entering the season according to many analysts and drivers, including Verstappen, it is also a consensus that four teams will be fighting for victories at least. Norris also expects more rivals to cause him headaches this year. "I expect to race against a lot of other guys this season, I think it’s going to be a closer battle, like we saw at the end of last year, rather than at the beginning when he was dominating. I think we’re going to see all top four teams fighting for wins this season," he continued.
Norris 'learned the hard way'
That prompts the question: How could Norris get the better of a rival that does not have any weaknesses he taken take advantage of? "I think I made my mistakes last year, but I also beat him in certain races. I think if I was able to just to go and rewind and have another attempt at several of those chances, the outcome would be different."
Together with now having the necessary experience, Norris only says he needs to continue with McLaren what they started the previous year. "It’s impossible to say exactly this and exactly that, but just keep putting up the fight that we’ve been doing."
Another key factor will be not to be only concentrated on matching and looking out for what the Red Bull driver is doing. "A lot of the others are almost just as good, and just as competitive and just as difficult to beat. We’re keeping our heads down, focusing on ourselves from now, but come Australia, we’re ready for anything to happen."
Last season, after many hard-fought battles on track, Verstappen secured his victory in the drivers' standings at the Las Vegas GP. Now, Norris is eager to show what he is capable of, with everybody starting from 0 points. "I learned the tough way and I excited to see what I can do this year against the rest of them too. Both personally and with McLaren as a team."
This article was written in collaboration with Kimberley Hoefnagel
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