Since achieving his first F1 race win at the 2024 Miami GP, Lando Norris has been more consistently fighting at the front in 2025. Adapting to the new challenges this brings, Norris has had a mixed bag of dominant victories and costly mistakes.
Before the summer break began, Norris reviewed his performances so far this season. He compared the difference between driving this current McLaren car compared to its previous generations, and what he believes his worst performance of the season has been.
Driving a dominant car that still has its challenges
Now with a total of nine career race wins, the British driver spoke about how he feels that his experience rating at the front has strengthened his skillset compared to last year.
“There’s just always different situations, different moments along the way. As a driver, I still feel better than I was. It doesn’t mean I always do a better job because the car is quite different this year. I’ve had my tricky moments with the car and understanding how to drive it.”
McLaren are having a very successful 2025 campaign so far. The team are already 299 points clear in the lead in the Constructor’s Standings. Despite his team’s success, Norris explained how he still has some issues with the MCL39.
“Just because, yes it’s a McLaren and it’s still got the papaya on it, it handles pretty differently to how it’s done in previous years. So, I’ve had to just adapt to that. It’s not suited me as well and those things. But that’s just stuff I’ve got to do what I’ve had to do, and needed to do a better job to get back to being as quick as I need to be, which I feel like I’ve done and I’ve improved on.”
Mistakes leading to valuable learning
Although Norris admits he is still adapting to his 2025 F1 car, he also shared a positive evaluation of his performance. Norris has had his share of mistakes and incidents during races this year. Rather than dwelling on any errors, the British driver reflected on them as a useful learning experience.
“I think my ability to improve on worse moments has improved, or ability to improve on surface troubles that you might achieve during a weekend or over a session or practice, whatever it is.”
Continuing to look on his driving this season positively, he shared that learning from such mistakes is important for every driver not only himself.
“Other than that, I think there’s just always going to be, for everyone, little things along the way that’s a new experience or you didn’t expect that you wish you could be better on. But I think it’s just a cycle.”
Best and worst performances of the season so far?
Norris was later asked to review his performances across the 2025 F1 season. The McLaren driver pointed out his win from pole in Austria as a highlight of the season.
“That’s tricky. I think there’s been a mix of ones I just feel a bit better at, just because it does generally align with the tracks I’ve always been better at. So if you look back to Red Bull Ring and things like that, the tracks I’ve just always enjoyed, I’ve always clicked with.”
Looking to find a reason for the tracks where he achieves stronger performances, Norris noted how his overall feeling of driving on a track is a strong indicator of a good result to come.
“I think a lot of the time it does also align with feeling, and I think that’s why I’ve been quite vocal about my feelings because the better I do feel in the car, the better I’m going to do. It’s quite just linear, they’re one-to-one. Part of my job is trying to improve that they’re not a good feeling and try and make that as good as when I’m feeling good, but that’s tricky at times.”
The McLaren driver then went on to review times where he has struggled more this season. He particularly noted front-limited tracks where he struggles more, even if he still achieves an unexpected, strong result.
“China, things like that, generally more front-limited tracks are ones that you rely more feeling from the steering, that’s where I’ve struggled a bit more this year. Those are the times I’ve struggled more. Tracks that at times I’ve done well in, like Monaco. I was shitting myself before Monaco. Massive front graining, terrible last year. [But I] turned into one of my best performances this season.
“There’s been plenty of cases where I’ve expected worse and I’ve done better than an expectation. But the places where they’re normally front-limited, just leaning all the front tyres a lot, require good steering feel, those are generally the places I struggle.”
