McLaren… synonymous with triumph and glory – a team which produced the most dominant cars and drivers in F1 history: Hamilton, Häkkinen, Senna, Prost, Fittpaldi, Hunt, Lauda and more. Does Lando Norris even compare?
In the 80s and 90s, Senna and Prost fought tooth and nail for power in the British team – two absolute giants at the pinnacle of their careers who became monsters on track. They were so relentlessly good, they won 15 of 16 races in the 1988 season with the legendary MP4/4 and immortalised their back-to-back championship fights in critical flashpoints, such as the 1989 Japanese Grand Prix.
Comparing the 26-year-old Brit to past immortalised legends is almost sacrilegious. Norris, while he started as an easily likeable and energetic young man, still feels like a work in progress seven years later. His 2024 championship run ended prematurely out of a lack of hunger against the omnipotent Max Verstappen, while his 2025 campaign started no different and included unforced errors and clashes with his agile yet calm-headed team-mate, Oscar Piastri.
The McLaren duo not only fought each other this year, but also their own team and Max Verstappen in an unexpected three-way title fight running to the finale in Abu Dhabi. Norris flipped the script in the second half of the season, gaining a points advantage, but McLaren allowed Verstappen to catch up when both MCL39s were disqualified from the Las Vegas Grand Prix for plank wear infringements.
Norris is the 35th driver to win a Formula One World Championship, but having done so by just two points, in what has been largely the best car on the grid this year, is he really the relentless and extraordinary talent you see from the other greats? McLaren had the Constructors wrapped up back in Singapore. Norris’ seven poles and seven wins in the 24-race campaign does not scream the type of dominance demonstrated by Verstappen and Hamilton in recent years.
Those two points could have come from anywhere – and fans eagerly point out the infamous team order swap between Norris and Piastri at the Italian Grand Prix would be enough to suffice. The same, however, could be said for Verstappen and his collision with George Russell in Catalunya. No driver had a perfect season, but when the championship is won by just two points, simply being competent was enough. Does that sound like the hallmark of a champion?
Could Verstappen have achieved greater in the same equipment? Is that even a question? Regardless, Norris showed that an early dip in form can be overcome – in the art of doing the bare minimum. He did not decimate the field in response to Piastri and the media surrounding them: he simply rolled with it until Piastri floundered. Remember this was only Pastri’s third season, and next year he will undoubtedly step up another level. How will the LN4 army respond to that?
Norris, after seven seasons of unwavering loyalty to the Woking-based squad, finally claimed the title. In the same time period, Charles Leclerc has given his heart (and quite possibly his soul) to Ferrari, yielding no more than eight victories. It is a team sport after all, and like all sports, sometimes it is royally unfair.
Having driven a near-perfect end to the season, closing 102 points to the leaders in the last nine races, Verstappen still had to settle for second. It felt broadly unsatisfactory to see the title decided with Norris’ third place finish.
It’s about aura. Verstappen has aura – he is the lion. He carries Red Bull on his shoulders. Norris has Zak Brown eagerly awaiting, arms open to celebrate. But he wouldn’t do that for Piastri, nor would anyone in the team. 2025 appeared like a massive one-sided deal at McLaren. Any time Piastri beat Norris you could hear crickets in the garage but Norris’ moments, no matter how common or rare, were celebrated like a World Cup victory. Was the team behind Norris? Absolutely. Were they behind him while inadvertently sacrificing their support for Piastri? Perhaps.
Good drivers are made great by their stories, and great drivers are made okay by their lack of them. Lando Norris is not a British hero, you won’t hear nor see his name outside of F1 or a newsfeed. He has not stood as an inspirational role-model like Lewis Hamilton did since his rookie season. He is more of a TikTok icon for adolescent girls. Echoes of Hamilton and Senna are everywhere, leaving their mark on the sport even when current situations defy their talent, while Norris is a feature in an ‘edit’ to be scrolled past in three seconds.
Setting the record straight, Norris is deserving of the world championship – but only by the points in the table after the chequered flag in Abu Dhabi. Many believed this was a barnstormer from Piastri, set on destroying his much more experienced team-mate, or a Verstappen masterclass in dragging the best results from a questionable Red Bull – even on its worst days. But Norris and the bare minimum was enough to win the championship and nothing more can be done now. Roll on 2026.
MotorPost 
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