Autobayng News Team
Lando Norris tipped his team mate to win the world championship in the future after beating him to the title this year.
The McLaren drivers ended the season separated by 13 points and won seven grands prix each. Oscar Piastri led the majority of the championship before dropping behind Norris and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen over the final races.
The new world champion said he regards both drivers as among the best in the world and admitted he had to raise his game to beat them following a poor run of results at the start of the year.
“I feel like I’m a better driver now, certainly, than I was at the beginning of the season,” said Norris. “When I’m racing against Max, a four-time world champion, when I’m racing against Oscar, a guy who at some point in the future will probably beat me and be a world champion, I’m performing.”
Norris has competed in seven seasons to Piastri’s three, and said he will have to continue improving to beat his rivals.
“I’m having to perform against the best in the world and I look forward to plenty more times like that. I need to understand what I can do better, how can I do better, how can I perform more consistently against them and learn from them?
“I feel like I did that this year, and I’ve got to do that even more next year if I want to retain what we’ve been able to achieve this year.”
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
Piastri said Norris had been a tough competitor to go up against and called him “a very deserving winner” of the championship.
“I know that every weekend I go on track it’s going to be tough,” he said. “And I think we’ve pushed each other through the last three years.
“Especially this season has been tighter than ever. So I think he’s had a great season. Probably all three of us [have], but obviously, myself and Lando in the same team, in the same car, have had our ups and downs at different moments. Ultimately, I think he’s had a good season and is a deserving champion.”
Miss nothing from RaceFans
Get a daily email with all our latest stories – and nothing else. No marketing, no ads. Sign up here:
2025 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix
- Norris vs Verstappen vs Piastri: Full radio transcript from their championship showdown
- Norris’s engineer told him Tsunoda’s move was “classic Red Bull s***housing”
- Norris ‘wanted Oscar to win the race – that would have made me even happier’
- Did Tsunoda try to get Norris penalised – and was the stewards’ call unprecedented?
- Norris expects Piastri ‘will beat me and be world champion in the future’
