After finishing second in the Formula 1 Drivers’ Championship last season, and helping McLaren to their first Constructors’ title since 1998, Lando Norris entered the 2025 season as a favorite for his first Drivers’ title.
But when expectations arrive, pressure follows. One of the major questions heading into the 2025 campaign was how Norris would handle being a favorite, and what lessons he and McLaren learned about what it takes to drive at the front of the grid after some mistakes a season ago.
It might be just one race weekend but so far, so good.
Norris held off tricky weather conditions, and a hard-charging Max Verstappen in the closing laps, to secure the win at the season-opening Australian Grand Prix. As with the rest of the field Norris and McLaren had to navigate precarious weather conditions, and when to make the change from wet weather tires to slicks, and back again.
While some teams made mistakes, Norris and McLaren were able to get it right.
But even though McLaren made the right calls, Norris still had to hold off a late charge from Verstappen. His ability to handle that moment is where the McLaren driver already sees “improvement” over his 2024 campaign.
“The thing is, I knew I was going to struggle a bit because I put the [intermediate tires] on two laps before Max, and with half the track still being dry, I pushed. Even the high-speed was dry, so I kind of destroyed my tires a little,” said Norris when asked in the FIA Press Conference how he handled having Verstappen in his mirrors over the final laps.
“The front tires— you could see the rubber was already rolling over on the edges. I knew my pace advantage wouldn’t be as much as at the beginning of the race. At the very beginning, when it was wettest, Max was just as quick as us. As it dried, we got a lot quicker, and Red Bull started to struggle. So, I knew Max would be quicker in those last few laps, and I knew he would risk more because there were only a few laps left.
Norris admitted that he made a mistake near the end of the race, one that helped Verstappen close even further to the rear wing of Norris’ MCL39.
“I did make a mistake at Turn 6 – I just put a wheel on the gravel and lost all my momentum and drive. Max got within DRS, and DRS really helped him stay there,” added Norris. “It’s tough because it’s not just the pressure of him being there, it’s the pressure of knowing that if I put a wheel too close to a white line on entry, I’m off. If I clip the kerb wrong in Turn 6, I’m off. If I dip a wheel in the gravel, I get a bad run and he’s past. There are so many little things that can go wrong. Just trying to concentrate on not locking up, not rear locking, not hitting the kerbs wrong, but still trying to go quicker than before because the guy behind is doing the same.
“It was stressful.
“I’m not going to lie. I was checking my mirrors a lot. Even Will [Joseph, Norris’ Race Engineer] came on the radio and told me to chill out a bit. He knows, and [Andrew Jarvis] Jarv, my performance engineer, knows very quickly from my driving when I’m pushing too much or when I’m pushing the entries too much,” described Norris. “They’re quick to jump in and say, ‘Do this better’ or ‘Watch out for that’ because they know what I struggle with. Especially in a situation like that.
The McLaren driver conceded that the end of the race was “new for him,” but that he was “happy” with how he handled the pressure of Verstappen in his mirrors.
“That situation was new for me. I’ve never led a race with five laps to go with Max behind me, trying to put me under pressure, in these conditions. Maybe Max has had that a few times – he’s raced against Lewis a lot and can deal with it better than I can. For me, it was a first. So, it was about seeing how I handled it when I got there.
“I’m happy I got through it and stayed calm. It’s something I improved from last year.”
Whether Norris had learned about what it takes to fight Verstappen at the front after their battles in 2024 was a major question heading into 2025. As Norris himself said, Sunday just just the first of 24 races.
But so far, so good, for the McLaren driver.
