Lando Norris believes he has found the self-belief needed to challenge Max Verstappen for the Formula 1 title in 2025, following his breakthrough season in 2024.
The British driver secured his first F1 victories this year, claiming four wins and an impressive eight pole positions throughout the campaign.
Despite finishing as runner-up to Verstappen’s fourth consecutive championship, Norris has emerged from the season with renewed confidence in his abilities to compete at the highest level.
The McLaren driver demonstrated particular strength in qualifying throughout 2024, securing pole position eight times – a significant improvement from his previous career total of just one pole.
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His success extended beyond Saturdays, with Norris mounting his first serious title challenge against Verstappen.
However, the Dutchman’s early-season advantage proved too substantial to overcome, despite Norris’s impressive run of four race victories during the campaign.
“I’ve just always been quite the opposite kind of guy, and I always find I need to go out to prove it to myself before I want to start believing anything,” Norris explained.
“This year, yeah I made some mistakes and I didn’t give a good enough fight to Max, but it was a good effort.”
“The one thing I’ve learned from it is that I have what it takes.
“That’s not an over-confident saying – I know I made my mistakes, I know what I’m capable of doing.”
While Norris faced some criticism for his race starts in 2024, he maintains these issues were less significant than portrayed.
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“I obviously lost out on a few things, and there were maybe three starts this year which lost me one or two positions at times,” he said.
“None of them, when I look back on them, made me feel like, ‘Well, I’ve not got what it takes’.
“Those moments only came when it was directly against Max. And it’s Max – going up against Max in any state is always going to be tricky.”
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Looking ahead to 2025, Norris expressed clear confidence in his ability to challenge for the title.
“I didn’t have what it took this season to fight against Max and deliver what I needed to deliver,” he admitted.
“But it certainly gave me the feeling of, ‘Okay, if I improve this little bit here, this little bit here’, for the first time, I have confidence in saying I’ve definitely got what it takes.”