Lando Norris ended his 2024 season on a high by taking the final race win and sealing the Constructors’ Championship for McLarenin the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
It makes up for missing out on the Drivers’ Championship battle with Max Verstappen, after Norris made several mistakes that arguably cost him the title.
McLaren achieved their first Constructor’s title since 1998 – when they had the driver pairing of Mika Hakkinen and David Coulthard – in what was an impressive turnaround for the team.
Norris played an important role with his consistency at the front of the pack, regularly finishing on the podium with teammate Oscar Piastri. It is the Briton’s sixth season in F1 and he is starting to show signs that he could be on the brink of title success.
Discussing who his pick is for title success in 2025 in his column for Sky Sports F1, Martin Brundle thinks Norris did something in the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix that makes him think it could be possible for the 23-year-old.
Martin Brundle picks Lando Norris for title success in 2025
Norris was fast all weekend at the Yas Marina circuit, putting no doubts over whether McLaren could clinch its title on Sunday.
Brundle expects Norris to be the main title contender in 2025 after seeing how ‘comfortable’ he was leading a lights-to-flag victory in Abu Dhabi.
“It was the kind of performance from Norris that can win him a world championship, totally calm and reassured, he is now extremely comfortable out front of a Grand Prix as well as gunning for pole position,” said Brundle.
“He’ll need to find a better way to manage Verstappen’s aggressive driving and relentless speed and talent, but Lando must start as one of the favourites for the 2025 title.”
Who will win the title fight out of the two McLaren drivers?
It stands to reason that with Norris being the most experienced driver, he is best placed to take another title battle to Verstappen.
But the opening lap in Abu Dhabi also showed that Piastri is no slouch when it comes to dealing with Verstappen’s aggressive nature on track, having put the Dutchman in a position where he needed to back out of the corner or risk a crash.
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Norris, by contrast, has been criticised this season for not being ruthless enough when faced with Verstappen’s antics. George Russell accused Verstappen of being a bully in the media frenzy leading up to Abu Dhabi, and Piastri showed just how unrelenting a driver must be against the Dutchman on track to stand a chance.
Although Norris will learn a lot from this season, Piastri has shown that he is more than capable of matching his teammates pace on track and dealing with the defending champion.
