Lando Norris wants to become McLaren’s first world champion since Lewis Hamilton in 2008. But he may be realising this season just how difficult it is to win the title.
After crashing out of the Canadian Grand Prix following a misjudged move on teammate Oscar Piastri, he’s fallen 22 points behind. The margin is easily assailable in 14 races, but Norris needs to become more consistent to have any chance.
Montreal slump notwithstanding, McLaren are the dominant team in Formula 1 this year. They have won seven of the first 10 Grands Prix and picked up at least 11 more podiums than any of their rivals.
The runner-up to Max Verstappen last year, Norris entered 2025 as the favourite on the basis of McLaren’s superiority. But his ultimate level is still up for debate.
Lando Norris ‘can’t even dream of’ being as successful as Lewis Hamilton
In 2020, Hamilton became the most successful F1 driver ever. He matched Michael Schumacher’s haul of seven world championships but also overtook him for race wins.
Norris appeared to play down that achievement at the time, saying (via the BBC): “I’m just happy for him, nothing more. It doesn’t mean anything to me, really. He’s in a car which should win every race, basically.
“He has to beat one or two other drivers, that’s it. Fair play to him, he’s still doing the job he has to do.”
But when he spoke to journalist Kayla Grey on the red carpet at the F1 movie premiere, he struck a markedly different tone. Norris talked about Hamilton in almost reverential terms.
In an interview last year, Norris said he wasn’t at the level of Hamilton or Max Verstappen because he continued to make ‘little mistakes’.
“What he’s achieved on [the track], first of all, that’s something I can’t even dream of,” he said in New York. “One world championship would be cool, but he’s gone on and he’s got seven and he’s got a hundred wins.”
Does Lando Norris feel like he’s being ‘watched too closely’ by McLaren?
It’s possible that Norris has more respect for Hamilton now that he too is competing for the biggest prizes. Back in 2020, McLaren still weren’t in a position to do so.
Intriguingly, Nico Rosberg compared himself to Norris on a podcast this week. Rosberg was one of the few drivers capable of challenging Hamilton during Mercedes’ dominant period and beat him in 2016.
Norris and Piastri have inevitably been cast as the next Hamilton and Rosberg, a narrative that will be strengthened by their Canada collision. But there’s still no sign of any real tension between the two, whereas the ex-Mercedes duo barely seemed to be on speaking terms at times.
In the opinion of Sky Germany pundit Ralf Schumacher, Norris feels as if he’s being ‘watched too closely’ at McLaren. More so than Piastri, he’s receiving ‘constant’ tips over the radio, and Schumacher reckons they should ‘just let him drive’ as he faces the ultimate pressure.
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