Lando Norris sure he can beat ‘perfect’ Max Verstappen in F1 2025

Lando Norris is confident he will be able to challenge - and beat - Max Verstappen to the F1 world championship next season.

The McLaren driver saw his slim hopes of winning a maiden world title end in Las Vegas after finishing sixth and one place behind Red Bull’s Verstappen, who was crowned world champion for the fourth successive time.

Norris said Verstappen drove “perfectly” throughout 2024 and was fully deserving of winning the world championship with two races remaining.

"Massive congrats to him. He’s deserved it,” Norris said. "He’s not put a foot wrong, really, the whole year. So that's strength of his, he has no bad... he has no downsides. He has no negatives.

"When he's had the quickest car, he dominated races. When he's not in the quickest car, he's still been just behind us and almost winning the races anyway.

“So he's just not had a bad side to him. He's not had any bad races the whole year. You know, his worst was like a fifth or something. He just drove as Max has always driven, which is perfectly. And can't fault him anywhere.”

But the 25-year-old Briton is convinced he and his team will be better placed to put in sterner challenge next year after taking the title race down to the final few rounds of the season.

“I feel like I can fight for a championship and I'm happy, and I can say that confidently,” he added. “I have what it takes, and I know that deep down that I have what it takes.

“I have some things to work on still, for sure, but I can fight against Max, and I'll be happy to say that, because I think Max is the best driver in the world, and probably one of the best drivers that's ever been in Formula 1.

"Some people might disagree, but I'm quite confident when I say that, which is rare. So for me to put up a fight against him and to go wheel to wheel is something I love, I enjoy.

"I'll probably look back on a lot in 20 years or 30 years that I fought such a driver. So you know, I'm happy for him. He deserves the championship, but hopefully I can upset him more next year."