Lando Norris leads on all fronts
Thanks to a resurgent and highly competitive McLaren, Lando Norris had his best season in Formula 1 in 2024. The Briton finally broke through with victories, claiming four wins and challenging Max Verstappen for the Drivers’ Championship until two races before the end. Throughout the year, Norris faced criticism for occasionally struggling to manage the fight against Max Verstappen, sometimes failing to capitalize fully on opportunities.
However, looking at the season’s statistics, Norris clearly emerged as the cornerstone of McLaren, which secured its ninth Constructors’ Championship after a 26-year drought. Despite Oscar Piastri’s impressive performances, including his first GP win in only his second season, Lando Norris, the Bristol native, outshone his teammate in every statistical category.
Clear dominance in qualifying
The most significant gap between the two McLaren drivers appeared in qualifying, where Lando Norris came close to a clean sweep: he outpaced Oscar Piastri on 20 out of 24 occasions in one-lap pace, achieving a commanding 8-0 lead in pole positions. While the race statistics were closer, they still leaned in favor of the vice-world champion. In head-to-head results for races both drivers finished, Norris led 16-7 (and without the Max Verstappen – Lando Norris collision in Austria, he would have scored one more point). Lando also topped the charts for wins and podiums.
Finally, in the overall standings, even with minimal assistance from Piastri in terms of “gifted” positions, Norris still scored 12% more points than his Melbourne-born teammate. For now, McLaren undeniably has a leading driver, despite maintaining equal treatment for both. It will be up to Piastri in 2025 to reverse this trend and position himself as the main contender for the world title.
Leave a Reply