Lando Norris says he has been proven wrong after having “doubts” about winning the F1 Drivers’ Championship earlier this year.
Norris entered the season as a title contender alongside Max Verstappen and outperformed McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri in the first half of 2025.
After August’s Dutch Grand Prix, he suffered an oil leak and fell to 34 points behind Piastri, but he fought back to beat the Australian over the next six race weekends, regaining the championship lead in October and holding onto that advantage until the end of Sunday’s race in Abu Dhabi, winning his first title two points clear of Verstappen and 13 points clear of Piastri.
“Winning the first race in Australia certainly gave me a big boost, but I got my best results straight away, but Oscar did an incredible job, always outperforming me, and I had some tricky times,” Norris explained.
“At the end of the day, it shows that consistency throughout the year will help us achieve what we achieved today (in Abu Dhabi). As everyone says, it’s the difficult moments that we have to learn from, acknowledge and understand.”
“I’ve had to work harder than ever in terms of expanding the group and increasing the number of people I work with, not only on the track but also off the track. I’ve had to increase the number of people who are not from McLaren but outside, my friends, my family, my coaches, who have helped me think in a better way and perform in a better way.”
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McLaren celebrates Lando Norris’ world title win with champagne spray in paddock
Norris, Britain’s 11th F1 world champion, said many people had allowed him to be “more calm” and “not accept pressure” in the second half of the season.
“Looking back, the first half of the season wasn’t the most memorable. Of course, as any driver will admit, I made some mistakes, made bad decisions and made my own mistakes. But I’m very proud of how I was able to turn all that around and make the second half of the season what it was and prove me wrong.”
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Lewis Hamilton, Charles Leclerc, Max Verstappen, George Russell and Carlos Sainz react to Lando Norris winning the 2025 title
“I had my doubts at the beginning of the year, but I was proven wrong, which makes me very happy.
“Like I said, this was a moment where I had to thank all of them, their hard work, and everything that other people do for me. This is my way of saying thank you.”
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Lando Norris praised teammate Oscar Piastri, saying, “I couldn’t be the driver I am today without him.”
Norris: “I couldn’t relax after Zandvoort’s retirement”
Norris’ lowest point came at the Dutch Grand Prix, when he sat alone on the grassy Zandvoort bank after retiring while running second with Piastri dominating the race.
The 26-year-old said the moment “didn’t allow me to relax” but “had to work harder” to fight back in the championship.
“When I saw him score 34 points against a guy who was in the same car and was doing a great job and who I knew was incredibly fast, it didn’t give me any confidence,” he said.
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McLaren’s Lando Norris was left heartbroken after his title hopes suffered a huge blow when he retired from the Dutch Grand Prix in August.
“It wasn’t like, ‘Oh, I have nothing to lose, I can go.’ I felt like I tried to do everything I could before, and I continued to try to do everything I could after that.
“We needed to step up what we were doing off the track in terms of the people we work with. We added more people to that group.”
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The moment Lando Norris became the 2025 F1 World Champion!
“I had to work harder in the simulator and on the track. I had to change my approach. I had to change my driving style.”
“Like many people, I had to dig deeper and try to understand more things faster and in more sophisticated ways than I had before.”
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