After McLaren developed the MCL38 into a race-winning machine and Lando Norris’ maiden victory in Miami in May, the 2024 Drivers’ Championship battle truly heated up. Norris put up a fight, doing his level best to overcome the deficit to Max Verstappen. Unfortunately, he failed in his pursuit despite having a realistic shot. The Briton himself conceded that it was a learning curve for him going up against someone of Verstappen’s caliber.
Jenson Button agrees. Going up against Verstappen unprepared is a huge challenge, and Norris would always be the second favorite to come out on top. That said, Button is confident that Norris will regroup and return much stronger in 2025.
“I am really excited to see a slightly different Lando next year,” Button said on the Sky Sports F1 podcast. “He will be studying every bit of footage that he has from this season, the races against Max, and he will come out much stronger next year and we’ll see a different Lando, I think, which is good.”
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Norris struggled in several key areas—poor race starts, errors mid-race, a lack of assertiveness, and inconsistency being among them. After the end of the current campaign, the 25-year-old would definitely spend time working on ironing these out. As Button explained, these will be the factors the Briton will try to learn from Verstappen’s season.
That said, while Norris is expected to return as a more complete driver next season, his challenge for the title could be even trickier.
Will Norris be able to challenge for the 2025 title?
This year, Norris was up against only Verstappen, who himself was struggling with the balance and performance of the RB20. Going into next season, however, the McLaren driver could be put up against multiple top-quality drivers.
Verstappen may or may not be in the mix, but the Ferrari duo of Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc, with a strong car, could upset the success enjoyed by McLaren in 2024. The SF24 turned out to have a lot of potential which Ferrari unlocked in the second half of the season, and next year’s challenger will be its evolution.
On top of that, Norris’ teammate Oscar Piastri proved to be a tough challenger and showed gradual signs of improvement throughout the campaign. Next year will be Piastri’s third full season in F1, and he will surely push Norris to the limits. However it may pan out for Norris, fans could be in for one of the most exciting championship fights in the history of the sport.
