Lando Norris has claimed McLaren must ensure that Max Verstappen can’t be in a situation like 2024 where he can “sacrifice” results to help his Formula 1 title prospects.
The previous campaign witnessed Verstappen claim his fourth consecutive Drivers’ Championship, while Norris recorded his best result to date with second.
McLaren’s mid-season emergence as the benchmark team, combined with Red Bull’s decline, had seen Norris become a viable threat to Verstappen’s recent title success.
That led to several, contentious on-track squabbles between the pair, beginning in Austria when contact battling over the race lead culminated in Norris retiring altogether.
The Dutchman came out on top once again later in the campaign in Austin as Norris completing a late pass outside track limits saw him lose a podium position to his rival.
But while Verstappen sending Norris wide in Mexico next time out would cause him to be punished, his antics guaranteed that the McLaren driver couldn’t contest the victory.
Norris asserted post-race that Verstappen, with a substantial points lead to preserve, was willing to hamper his closest competitor even to the detriment of his results in a race.
The Briton has admitted that compromised his chances, although he has accepted that he “wasn’t at the level” required to come out on top in their initial wheel-to-wheel battles.
“I want to race against Max, and I do enjoy those moments, and some things obviously didn’t end up in the perfect way, in the perfect scenario, I think coming from the points deficit that I have, even though the majority of the time we were quicker, and I had a better car for a lot of the races, those kind of things, which I can happily admit, there’s some things where I just didn’t do a good enough job,” Norris told media including Motorsport Week at Silverstone, where McLaren launched the team’s MCL39.
“I wasn’t simply quite at the level that I need to be to race against Max, but when we’re talking about that, we’re talking about probably going up against one of the hardest attacking defence guys you can ever go up against, like we saw in Mexico.
“I don’t want to go through all of these things again, but like we saw in Mexico, very willingly sacrificed himself for the benefit of the overall outcome.
“And when that’s the mentality of a driver, whether it’s Max or any driver, that’s a very difficult one to ever come on top of, when you’re 50 points behind or 40 points behind in the championship, because it’s never going to be a win for me.”
Norris places emphasis on strong McLaren start
Norris, who is gunning to win his maiden title in 2025, believes McLaren making a strong start will ensure Verstappen can’t resort to replicating those tactics again this season.
“So what’s the main thing that’s going to change this year? I just need more points from the beginning, and hopefully it’s the other way around,” he elaborated.
“Being in his position, you can always see as the vulnerable position, and me being kind of the chaser and the guy trying to attack can also be seen as a positive and a negative.
“But with how he drives, and the risks that he takes, and the aggressiveness that he has, there was almost no way that I could come back from the deficit that I had, because there would have been too many scenarios that replicated Mexico, or replicated Red Bull Ring, that kind of thing, you know, where we were both out in a way, and that probably benefited him more than it did me. That was a tough year, but I think I learned a lot from those moments.
“There’s definitely things I need to do better, like again, I’ll always be the first to admit it. I don’t need people telling me these kind of things.
“I have people who will help me through these situations, and advise me, and I use my friends around me, who are also drivers, those kind of guys.
“That close group that I have, the guys that I know, and I trust, and are honest with me.
“When I’ve done something that’s not good enough, I probably go like Texas Turn 1, up the hill. This was just poor, from my behalf.
“But yeah, well, the end of the straight in Texas, and into Turn 12, slightly different scenario, and I know that better than anyone else.
“There are definitely things I need to tighten up on, and improvements that I’ve got to make, and I feel like I already, by the end of last year, improved on some of those situations.
“But what’s the main thing? The main thing is just starting off on the right foot.
“This changes the mentality of every driver. It will be a different mentality of Max, if he’s 50 points behind, versus 50 points ahead. Those types of things, you know.
“So that’s the biggest key difference. The rest is keep doing what I’m doing.
“But I know, I know I wasn’t at the level that I needed to be at, when I kind of first went into those battles with Max. That was clear. And I take that on the chin.
“It hurts. It’s always going to hurt when you kind of look silly at times, and you don’t come out on top, but that’s the way it is in life sometimes.
“As long as I learn from them, and don’t make them multiple times, and those kind of things, that’s the way it is, and I need to do a better job.”
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