For the first time since 1998, McLaren returned to winning the constructors’ championship. This was thanks to Lando Norris’s dominant victory in the season finale in Abu Dhabi, which allowed the papaya team to surpass their red-clad rivals. However, numerous mistakes enabled Max Verstappen to triumph when the drivers’ title was within reach.
Despite a 10-race drought due to Red Bull’s mid-season decline, the Dutchman secured the championship with two races to spare and a 63-point lead over Lando Norris.
The Briton’s first victory in the fifth round in Miami marked a crucial turning point in the season. From that point onward, with excellent upgrade packages, McLaren established itself as the car to beat. However, Lando Norris and the papaya team failed to capitalize on this advantage due to driver errors and strategic missteps.
The Briton acknowledged that for McLaren to fulfill its ambitions in 2025, it will be essential to make winning easier compared to the previous year.
“One thing we’ve learned as a team is that now that we’re at the front, we want to make things easier for ourselves,” Lando Norris said in an interview with McLaren sponsor Mastercard at the World Economic Forum. “We want to keep it going so we can win these races more easily and not make them as difficult as they were last year.”
“I need to work on some things”
For 2025, the Woking team is naturally among the favorites, but the exchange of victories among the four top teams last season forces the 25-year-old and the team to stay on their toes. “The team has remained very focused,” he revealed. “It would have been easy for everyone to sit back and say, ‘We’re fine, we’ve done it, now let’s relax.’
“They did the opposite. They said, ‘We want even more,’ and worked even harder to try to find new things for this year. So I think they’ve turned those expectations into positive things, into more motivation and drive.”
Lando Norris spoke about his personal goals to do his best to win the drivers’ title that eluded him in 2024. “For my part, I also want to win the Drivers’ Championship,” he emphasized. “You need a good team behind you, and I think that’s exactly what I have.”
“Last year, I came close. I was always just a bit behind, but I could feel it. I had that sense of, ‘Okay, this is what it feels like.’ This year, I need to work on some things and come back stronger.” – the British driver concluded.
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