Lando Norris shows Max Verstappen-like confidence after 2025 title, says Martin Brundle. Martin Brundle highlights how Lando Norris is taking a relaxed yet confident approach similar to Max Verstappen.

Lando Norris is adopting a Max Verstappen-style approach after the 2025 F1 season. According to Martin Brundle, the British driver is finally showing a more relaxed attitude as he returns to the track with “a huge grin on his face.”

After beating Max Verstappen and his McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri in an incredible season that concluded in Abu Dhabi, Brundle believes Norris is taking a leaf out of the Dutch driver’s book. He is approaching the new season with confidence but in a more relaxed way, fully aware that he can compete with the very best in Formula 1.

Norris has achieved the ultimate milestone

According to Martin Brundle, Lando Norris can now consider “everything else as a bonus,” just like Max Verstappen did after his first World Championship victory. Speaking to Sky Sports News, Brundle said: “He is world champion. So he has already reached the biggest milestone for a driver. I like how Lando is handling it. He is doing a bit like Max, but in his own way. He is saying: ‘Okay, I am world champion. I’ve achieved this. Everything else is a bonus and I will continue doing it my way, staying Lando, a little uncertain about myself, not being super confident, because that’s not my style.’”

“But Max said the same thing when he won his first World Championship: ‘From here on everything else is a bonus.’ Yet we all know how incredibly competitive he is. He wants to win as many titles as possible. Lando, on the other hand, I’ve never seen him this year without a huge smile on his face. He is extremely happy.”

As the 2026 season kicks off, the transformation in Lando Norris’s psychological approach could be the deciding factor in his quest for back-to-back titles. By shedding the weight of expectation and adopting the “bonus” mentality that fueled Max Verstappen’s dominant years, the McLaren driver appears to have found a new level of inner peace. This mix of a champion’s confidence and his trademark humility makes Norris a formidable force in the new hybrid era, proving that while he may be smiling, his competitive fire is burning brighter than ever.