Lando Norris begins 2026 as the reigning world champion for the first time. The McLaren driver heads into the new season brimming with confidence, yet he hasn’t lost his tendency to be hard on himself. Ahead of the new Formula 1 season he admits he would sometimes like to be more like Max Verstappen: ‘There are many things I admire about Max’.
Lando Norris faced repeated criticism in 2025 — the year in which he ultimately won his first world title — that he wasn’t aggressive enough in his on-track battles, particularly against Max Verstappen. The Brit said, shortly after sealing his title in Abu Dhabi, that above all he was pleased to have realised his dream of becoming world champion without losing his own approach and personality.
Still, the McLaren driver also sees qualities in Verstappen he’d like to adopt. “It’s pretty clear I have a different mentality and a different approach than, for example, Max. Whether that’s good or bad, you can judge,” Norris said during a media session at the McLaren Technology Centre in early February. “There are a lot of things I still admire about Max, and I wish I had a bit more of them here and there. I always try to improve myself. I know there are still areas where I’m not at the level I should be. It’s still a good level, but when you’re fighting these guys you have to be almost perfect.”
Confidence
Despite his ongoing self-criticism, Norris’s confidence has also grown, he reveals. That’s largely because he’s increasingly been able to deliver in Formula 1. “Did I think I could take pole for the first time or win a race? When I did it, I thought: ‘Ah, I can do it,’ you know? That’s simply how I, for whatever reason, thought and what I believed.”
The reigning world champion goes on to explain how, with the help of a sports psychologist, he has also made strides mentally. “I’ve certainly improved on many things over the past year — mental preparation, mental state, handling good and bad times, and everything in between,” Norris continues. “But I do need to find my own way and not just follow what other people have done in the past, and simply understand what will always motivate me.”
