Lando Norris proved a ‘nice guy’ can be champion without being ‘ruthless’
Lando Norris became the 34th different driver to win the world title.
No underhanded tactics, no squeezing a rival into a wall, or playing in the grey areas of Formula 1’s rulebook. Just a nice guy doing it “my way”.
Lando Norris won the F1 2025 World Championship by two points ahead of Max Verstappen and a further nine in front of his McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri in arguably the sport’s more respectful title fight witnessed in years. And that is something he’s proud of.
Lando Norris: I just won it my way
Norris went into Sunday’s title-decider in Abu Dhabi 12 points up on Verstappen and 16 ahead of Piastri.
It wasn’t a case of winner takes all as Norris only needed to finish inside the top three to beat his rivals, no matter their finishing positions.
The Briton, lining up second behind Verstappen and ahead of Piastri, soon found himself running in that third place as pole-sitter Verstappen crossed the track to block him before before Piastri made a great pass at Turn 9 to run second.
As the game of strategies played out, Verstappen claimed the final chequered flag of the F1 2025 championship ahead of Piastri but Norris’ 15 points for third place meant he was crowned the season’s champion by two.
F1 2025: The season’s winners and losers
👉 The results of the F1 2025 championship
👉 The updated Drivers’ and Constructors’ Championship standings
It brought an end to one of the friendliest title races perhaps ever, as Norris and Piastri kept it clean through to the line with no games on the track, or off of it, while even in Verstappen late charge, there were no controversial on-track moments.
“That’s one of the things that makes me most proud,” Norris told PlanetF1.com and other media in Abu Dhabi in his world champion’s press conference.
“I feel like I have just managed to win it the way I wanted to win it, which was not by being someone I’m not.
“Not trying to be as aggressive as Max or as forceful as other champions might have been in the past, I’m happy. I just won it my way – by being a fair driver, by trying to be an honest driver.
“At times, could I have been more aggressive and got off the brakes and had a few people over? I certainly could have done, and maybe I need to do that in the future, but is that me? No. Is that the way I want to go racing? Is that me? It’s not.”
“I feel proud but not because I’m gonna wake up tomorrow and go, ‘I beat everyone’,” he added. “I’m not proud because I get to just say I’m a world champion. I’m proud because I feel like I made a lot of other people happy.”
His former McLaren teammate Carlos Sainz applauded that.
“More than anything, I’m happy for him as a person because he’s a driver that doesn’t follow the typical stereotypes of a world champion, he’s always stayed true to himself, very honest, very open about his own struggles and proven to everyone you can be world champion being a nice guy, or don’t have to be ruthless or badass,” Sainz said to the Sky Sports.
“Very happy for him as a driver because he’s always been an extremely quick driver, quicker than what people give him credit for, extremely talented.
“The first years at McLaren, I saw a guy who had the speed to be multiple world champion if it was purely down to speed. Along the way, he’s developed his skills a lot and now he’s a world champion.
“Happy for him, I hope he stays the same, it doesn’t get in his head that he’s world champion and he keeps being himself, or even if he relaxes more, and can enjoy F1 more.”
Read next: Abu Dhabi GP conclusions: Lando’s big realisation, Max error punished, the McLaren way
