Formula One 2025 | Making a statement — how the soft-spoken Norris did it ‘Lando’s way’

In the adrenaline-filled world of motorsports, especially Formula One, the notion of what a champion driver must be can be one-dimensional.

It is always centred around not just being fast, but on being ruthless on track, ready to get their elbows out and adopt an almost no-fear approach bordering on recklessness.

There have been 35 world champions in the sport’s 76-year history, and on Sunday in Abu Dhabi, McLaren’s Lando Norris became the latest entrant into that elite club. But if there is one thing that can be said about the British racer, it is that he does not fit into the mould of an archetypal F1 champion.

The diminutive Norris is soft-spoken and candid, wears his heart on his sleeve, and is comfortable sharing his vulnerabilities. It has often led people to underestimate him and express that he doesn’t have what it takes to become a champion.

And there were times during the course of the 24-race-long season where it seemed Norris’ detractors were maybe right when he struggled to piece together a convincing run in the best car on the grid.

But whenever things got tough during the year, the 26-year-old managed to allay those self-doubts to script a remarkable maiden crown.

When he retired from the Dutch GP due to a power unit failure, the Brit was 34 points behind his teammate, Oscar Piastri, and not many gave him a chance to recover in the remaining nine races.

But in the final third of the year, Norris dug deep and found a spring in his step. He was in scintillating form just when his teammate slipped, and Max Verstappen was closing in. Across three weekends in the USA, Mexico and Brazil, Norris clinched a second spot and two superb wins to reclaim the championship lead he had lost after the fifth round. He never surrendered it again.

Beneath his calm, jovial personality lies a very quick racing driver who can hold his own against the best. On his day, Norris is unbeatable; there were races throughout the year that proved that. His triumphs at Monaco, Austria, and later Mexico and Brazil, where he led every session from practice to Sprint and the Grand Prix, showed why he is a worthy champion.

For someone not seen as ruthless enough, especially in combat, Norris proved that one could still triumph without being obnoxious.

As he later put it succinctly on Sunday, “That’s one of the things that makes me most proud. I feel like I’ve just managed to win it the way I wanted to win it, which was not by being someone [else]. I’m not trying to be as aggressive as Max, or as forceful as all the champions might have been in the past, whatever it may be. I’m happy. I just won it my way. I’m happy I could go out and be myself and win it ‘Lando’s way.’”