It’s time to start taking Lando Norris seriously
Lando Norris has developed into one of the elite drivers in F1
It’s time to start taking Lando Norris seriously.
Shining in the afterglow of his 2025 title triumph, the McLaren driver must now be regarded alongside Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen in F1’s elite class.
Lando Norris, McLaren and The Year After The Year
A version of this article originally appeared in PlanetF1.com’s conclusions from the 2026 Spanish Grand Prix
A single Lando Norris comment following his victory at the Dutch Grand Prix last month spoke volumes for his personal development.
Asked during the parc ferme interviews to describe the moment that effectively won him the race – his opportunistic overtake on Kimi Antonelli at Turn 1 – Lando’s response was instructive.
“I knew I was not going to get many chances,” Lando said. “Every lap I spent behind him, my odds were getting lower and lower.”
That, right there, said it all about how much Norris has grown in a relatively short space of time.
Why? Because that is precisely the approach he had failed to take in wheel-to-wheel situations historically.
Lando Norris vs Oscar Piastri: McLaren head-to-head stats for F1 2026 season
F1 2026: Head-to-head qualifying statistics between teammates
F1 2026: Head-to-head race statistics between teammates
Think back to his collision with Max Verstappen at Austria 2024, where despite having much the faster car Norris dillied and dallied for a number of laps behind the Red Bull.
As each lap passed with Lando still behind, so Max’s confidence grew that, actually, he could remain ahead after all.
So his defence became ever more spirited and aggressive and daring…
Right up until the moment they came together and both their races were ruined.
Verstappen was heavily criticised for that collision yet, as noted at the time, it only happened as a result of Norris’s lack of conviction, dragging the battle on for far longer than it should have lasted.
The trick to overtaking a great racing driver, you see, is to think of it like fighting a shark: get in, punch to the nose, get out.
Get him before he gets you.
Too willingly over the years Norris had danced to the tune of other drivers.
Yet there he was at Zandvoort finally spotting – let alone seizing – the moment and zooming around the outside of Antonelli before Kimi even knew what hit him.
It was the pass – the victory – that elevated Norris to a higher level still.
His pole position at Madrid, with the sort of out-of-nowhere lap Max has specialised in over the years, only confirmed it.
He would have won this race easily were it not for the virtual safety car (which, as he alluded to after the race, has developed an unfair, almost Abu Dhabi 2021-esque habit of plucking victories out of one driver’s hands and handing them to another free of charge).
Amazing, isn’t it, what a little self-belief can do?
This column has argued for years that Lando would be lethal if only he had the inner confidence of, say, George Russell.
Now here he is, as the reigning world champion, blossoming before our eyes into one of the most accomplished drivers in Formula 1 today.
This is Norris in full The Year After The Year mode, the satisfaction and confidence of his first championship unlocking a whole new level of performance.
The last few races have done more for his standing and reputation than his often unconvincing title-winning season in 2025.
There was a suspicion after Abu Dhabi last year that Norris might consider it job done.
That, with his first title filed away and his lifelong ambition fulfilled, he would go the way of other world champions and allow himself to relax and his career to drift slightly.
Perhaps we should have known all along that it would liberate him instead.
That, having always struggled to see in himself what those closest to him saw, Lando could finally see it too.
Memo to Max, Lewis, et al: pull up another chair, for a new face has arrived at F1’s top table.
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