Lando Norris has admitted that he is not close to being able to fight for a Drivers’ World Championship despite many hoping that he and McLaren F1 Team could challenge for one before the expiry of his contract with the English-based team in 2025.
Norris is still a young driver, despite going into his fourth year on the FIA Formula 1 World Championship grid, and he has impressed everybody with how well he has done. In 2019, he scored his first points in the sport, and in 2020 he stood on the podium for the first time in Austria. 2021 saw him get a career-best second finish at Monza, finishing behind his team-mate Daniel Ricciardo, in the team’s first one-two finish since 2012.
Many believe Norris has a championship-winning pedigree, but the Bristol-born driver does not believe that will happen in the coming years, and he made that clear when speaking to GQ Magazine.
“With everything I’ve learned, maybe I could win a race, but I’m unlikely to win a championship until possibly that time [2025]. I know I need to be at the absolute top of my game in those years.”
Norris hasn’t had it as easy as some of his rivals, whom he came through the junior categories alongside. Charles Leclerc and George Russell are driving for top teams and have wins to their name, while Alexander Albon has had multiple podiums. That is mostly down to the difficult nature of the McLaren car with a massive dip in performance in 2022, but Norris has remained loyal to the team that gave him his first Formula 1 opportunity,
“I think I’m a fair loser, but I’ve always been a guy who’s very harsh on myself. I’m very critical of my own performance. I always think, What could I have done better? And then, What could the team have done better?
“I love to listen, It might not be something I’m necessarily giving input on, but because I love racing, the more I can know about, that’s a good thing. I’m a perfectionist. I try as hard as I can to be a better driver.”
McLaren CEO Zak Brown is certainly not pessimistic about Norris’ chances of a Championship but acknowledges the team needs to give him the correct tools to succeed.
“I think he’s got another 10 to 15 years ahead of him, I think as long as we can get him a car, he’ll be a world champion.
“He takes the things that he needs to take seriously, very seriously. But he also knows that we’re in a fun business, racing cars.”
