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Lando Norris won his first F1 world championship in 2025, but a former racing driver reckons that the McLaren star still isn’t on the same level as Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen.
Lando Norris, despite clinching his first Formula 1 world title earlier this month, has been told he is not quite up to the standard of Lewis Hamilton or Max Verstappen.
The McLaren star pipped four-time champion Verstappen – and teammate Oscar Piastri – at the post to secure his inaugural Drivers’ Championship in the season’s final race in Abu Dhabi.
However, ex-F1 racer Michael Bleekemolen reckons 26-year-old Norris hasn’t yet reached Verstappen’s heights. He pointed out a few mishaps during the 2025 season that cost the Brit valuable points, including colliding with Piastri in Canada and another crash in Austin, Texas.
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When quizzed by RacingNews365 if Norris was a deserving 2025 champion, Bleekemolen responded: “Not if I compare him to Max Verstappen. In Canada, was it Canada? There, he just drove at the back (of Piastri).
“I definitely think driving at the back of Piastri, if I compare him to Max, was a dramatic thing. And the crash at the Circuit of the Americas, those are things that just happen. You can go into all that in great detail, but it is what it is. Then I’d say; he’s not on the level of Hamilton and [Michael] Schumacher.”
While Norris has some distance to cover to match the feats of Verstappen, Hamilton and Schumacher in F1, his 2025 world title win has certainly set the stage for him to carve out his own legacy.
Speaking about securing the world title following the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Norris revealed: “I feel like I have just managed to win it the way I wanted to win it, which was not by being someone I’m not.
“Not trying to be as aggressive as Max or as forceful as other champions might have been in the past, I’m happy. I just won it my way – by being a fair driver, by trying to be an honest driver.
“At times, could I have been more aggressive and got off the brakes and had a few people over? I certainly could have done. Is that the way I want to go racing? Is that me? It’s not.”
Norris also revealed messages of encouragement he had received from Hamilton and another ex-world champion Sebastian Vettel during the season.
“I’ve had some great words and great text messages and conversations with some incredible people, people that have won World Championships in different sports, Lewis and others like Seb,” Norris told F1.com. “A lot of people don’t know I speak to Seb about things. A lot of these people, [former MotoGP champion Casey] Stoner, who, when I needed it most, sent me that little text message and said; ‘Think of this, believe in yourself, do this, do that’, and just help me along.”
Norris believes those comments, along with the broader backing from his inner circle, as pivotal in his world title triumph over Red Bull’s Verstappen by a mere two points.
“When you win the championship by two points, I would certainly say having these moments of faith from others around me got me those two points,” Norris continued.
“And therefore, that’s why I’ve got to thank everyone around me because two points is also what you need.”
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