Lando Norris has everything it takes to win his first F1 world title. He has the talent and the car, yet some believe the Brit lacks the competitive ruthlessness many successful drivers have displayed before him.
On multiple occasions, Lando Norris has let victories or important results slip through his fingers to rivals who seem to possess that particular instinct. There are plenty of examples between 2024 and 2025.
Last season, for instance, when he looked to be emerging as a title contender alongside Max Verstappen, Lando Norris (and the team) failed to hold their own against the Dutchman.
Consider the contact in Austria, after which Max Verstappen managed to continue racing while the 25-year-old had to retire. Or the Brazilian GP, where Lando Norris dropped from pole position to seventh, effectively handing the title to his rival.
Even in comparison with Oscar Piastri, Lando Norris has shown occasional flaws—such as losing position to his teammate in Hungary or again at the start in Monza. Despite accusations that he lacks the character to win a world title, Norris disagrees.
“I feel like there’s a very preset image of how people say a world champion has to be: overly aggressive,” he said in a pre-Japan interview with The Guardian. “I want to win a championship. I’d just prefer to be a good person and try to do it well. I’ll do everything I can to win a championship, but maybe I won’t sacrifice my life in the way others do—in terms of who I am as a person and having that ‘f*** you’ mentality people say you need. I still believe I can be a world champion, but do it while being a good person.” – he pointed out – “What people want you to believe is that you have to think you’re the best in the world, you have to think you can beat everyone,” he continued. “It’s a great attitude to have, but I don’t think it’s the only one that works if you want to be a champion.”
“I just want to enjoy life. Maybe that’s an attitude that’s not so tied to the killer instinct. I don’t think you need to have it to be a world champion. I want to prove you can be a world champion without it. I’ll keep fighting for something, I’ll keep taking risks, and I’ll keep doing everything I know I can to be a world champion—but without losing the freedom to be who I am,” he added ahead of the Bahrain Grand Prix weekend.
“There are certain things I wouldn’t do that other champions have done. I don’t have a killer instinct like probably most drivers or champions do, because I simply wasn’t raised that way.”
2025 might be the right year for Norris to prove the truth of his words.
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