Lando Norris concedes that Max Verstappen deserved to win the title last season and he didn’t, as the driver looked back at his first ever F1 title campaign. The 2024 season was a peculiar one, as it started with Red Bull having a car that was comfortably quicker than everyone.
This helped Max Verstappen to gain an advantage over the rest of the grid, as until the race in Miami that season, the Dutch driver had only dropped one race, and even that was a result of a technical issue. From Miami onwards, however, things started to change. Lando Norris won his first career race that weekend, and the balance of power gradually began to shift from Red Bull to McLaren.
As the season progressed from that point onwards, Lando Norris had the better car compared to Max Verstappen more often than not. Even though the Dutch driver had a slower car, he put together an impressive run and still held off the Brit.
This was also a result of multiple things, including Lando Norris’ inability to nail his starts and keep the lead even when starting the race from pole position. In an interview with F1.com, Lando Norris opened up on what happened last season and looked at it as a big learning curve. Conceding how Max Verstappen deserved to win the title and he didn’t, Norris said,
“I think [over] the second half of last year I learned the most about being back at the front, performing under pressure, and racing against the best in the world. We learn a lot more there than when we’re at the back doing other things. Could I have made better decisions? Yes. Did I? No. Max deserved to win it, and I didn’t.”
He added,
“At the end of the day, I was kind of happy that I got to experience all of those things and learn from all of those things, because it’s definitely helped me become a better driver now, and I’m a lot more ready now. Everyone’s different. Sometimes people are more natural in those things, and some people have to learn more and spend more time learning those things.”
A good learning experience: Lando Norris on battling Max Verstappen in 2024
2024 was the first time Lando Norris had a car with which he could challenge for the title, and it did appear that the driver was still learning on the job. Talking about battling with Max Verstappen, Norris admitted that the entire experience was a major learning curve for him as well. He said,
“For me, it was a good learning experience. Some of them more specifically with Max than others, but a lot of different situations. Even though it was my sixth year, it was still a very big learning curve. It was a very good season for picking up on all those things going into the winter.”
He added,
“I looked back on what was good, what was not good, the strengths, the weaknesses, and how you put them together to make you a more complete driver. I think [it was] crucial in terms of learning and understanding more about myself, and what I need to work on.”
The 2025 F1 season would see Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri battle it out for the title in their McLaren, but Max Verstappen is, like always, going to be a big factor this year as well.
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Edited by Mitali
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