After finishing second in the F1 Drivers Championship last season and McLaren won his first constructor title since 1998, Randnoris entered the 2025 season as a favorite of his first driver title.
But once expectations reach, pressure continues. One of the main questions heading into the 2025 campaign was how Norris becomes a favorite and what he and McLaren learned about what they need to do to drive in front of the grid after a few pre-season mistakes.
It could be just one race weekend, but so far it's been very good.
Norris held back hard-charged Max Burstappen on a closed lap to secure tricky weather conditions and a victory at the Australian Grand Prix in the season-opening game. Like the rest of the field, Norris and McLaren had to navigate unstable weather conditions and when they had to make changes from rainy tires to slicks and return again.
Some teams made mistakes, but Norris and McLaren were able to get it right.
However, despite McLaren making the right phone call, Norris still had to hold back the late accusation from Verstappen. His ability to handle the moment is where McLaren Drivers are already seeing “improvements” in their 2024 campaign.
“The thing is that I knew I would have a little hard because I would put it. [intermediate tires] Two laps before Max, half of the track was still dry so I pushed. Even at high speeds it was dry so we destroyed a bit of the tires,” Norris said. FIA Press Conference The way he handled Verstappen in his mirror on his final lap.
“The front tires – rubber was already rolling on the edge. I knew my pace advantage wasn't as fast as the start of the race. At first, when it was the wettest, Max was just as fast as us. As it dries, we got much faster and Red Bull started to struggle. So I knew Max would be faster in the last few laps, and I knew he would risk more because he only had a few laps left.
Norris admitted that he made a mistake near the end of the race. This brought Barstappen even closer to the rear wing of Norris' MCL39.
“I made a mistake on Turn 6. I put the wheels on the gravel and lost all the momentum and driving. Max went inside Drs and Drs really helped him stay there,” Norris added. “It's hard because it's not just the pressure to be there. Getting too close to the white line on the entry is the pressure to know I'm off. If I get the wrong curb at turn 6, I'll go off. Soaking the wheel in gravel gives me a bad run and he's in the past. There's a lot of things that don't work. I'm trying to focus on trying to get faster than before, not on the wrong lock or wrong, because the guy behind me is doing the same thing.
“It's stressful.
“I'm not going to lie. I was checking my mirror a lot. [Joseph, Norris’ Race Engineer] I came to the radio and told him to cool it down a little. He knows, and [Andrew Jarvis] My performance engineer Jarv knows very quickly from driving when I push too much or push too much entry,” Norris explained. “They jump in immediately and say, 'Let this be better' or 'Be careful with that.' Because they know I'm struggling. Especially in such a situation.
The McLaren driver admitted that the end of the race was “new to him,” but he was “happy” with how he treated Verstappen's pressure in the mirror.
“That situation was new to me. In these conditions, I've never led a race to go with Max on five laps. Maybe Max had that a few times – he's raced a lot with Lewis and can handle it better than me. For me, it was the first. So it was about seeing how I handled it when I got there.
“I got through it and remained calm. It's been improving since last year.”
Whether Norris learned what it takes to fight Verstappen in front after the 2024 battle was a big question heading into 2025. As Norris himself said, Sunday is just the first of 24 races.
But so far, it's been very good for McLaren drivers.
