Lando Norris Brands Max Verstappen as A “Genuine Challenger” for 2025 F1 World championship

Lando Norris did not hesitate to accept that Max Verstappen was genuine challenger for the drivers' title in the 2025 season.

Lando Norris Brands Max Verstappen as A “Genuine Challenger” for 2025 F1 World championship

Max Verstappen, Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris (via Getty)

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Max Verstappen has seemingly returned to his winning ways in the final stages of the 2025 season. The Dutchman had lost out on massive performances mid-way through the year. However, after coming back from the summer break, Verstappen is currently on a two-race win streak with chances of continuing it further.

As such, the current runner-up for the 2025 drivers’ title, Lando Norris, opens up on the four-time champion’s chances to contend for the title by the end of the year. Currently, Max Verstappen is 69 points adrift of Oscar Piastri in the championship lead. Notably, at its peak, Verstappen trailed the Kiwi by over 104 points, which was quickly reduced within two races.

As such, the Dutchman can definitely carry forward his winning momentum and battle for the drivers’ title by the end of this season. Hence, in a recent interview, Lando Norris was questioned about his thoughts on the 27-year-old’s chances of succeeding in bridging the point disparity to the top.

Lando Norris did not mince words or sugarcoat his words while talking about the possibility of Max Verstappen coming at the top to contend for the drivers’ title. The Briton bluntly accepted that there was a genuine impending challenge from the four-time champion towards the end of the season. Norris recalled the beginning of the season and how Red Bull and Co. always remained tough competitors.

Further, Lando Norris continued that even McLaren brought in multiple upgrades that helped them improve their performance. However, even Red Bull’s upgrades, especially the ones at Monza, helped Max Verstappen achieve the massive turnaround in performance. The Briton insisted that Milton Keynes was on the same level as the Papaya Squad and was a serious contender for the driver’s title.

He is genuinely a challenger, If you go back to the beginning of the season they were challenging us for the first six or seven races for wins, then we brought some upgrades and improved a little bit. Then they brought a couple of upgrades and that has put them on the same level.

Lando Norris said, as reported by theguardian.

Lando Norris predicts how many races Max Verstappen will be ‘quick’

McLaren’s performance has remained decent, but Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri both have committed errors that have rendered them unable to score great results. On the other hand, Max Verstappen capitalizes on every mistake made by the Papaya squad and brings the battle to them. As such, Norris revealed the upcoming races where Verstappen will remain a dominating factor.

Lando Norris and Max Verstappen (via Red Bull)
Lando Norris and Max Verstappen (via Red Bull)

Lando Norris reflected that at the recent Azerbaijan GP, the team had a good car, but were unable to trump Max Verstappen for the race win. The Italian GP was different as Verstappen was simply too quick for McLaren or others to catch up to him. As such, Norris raised concerns over the fact that there were a lot of races coming up where the Dutchman would be very fast and even contend for the race wins.

In Baku we had the car to win and we didn’t. At the round before in Monza they were too quick for us and if there are some races coming up where he is too fast, which is very possible, because I expect them to be quick for many of the races this season…

Lando Norris noted.

The 2025 season so far has been extremely enticing and nail-biting. Although Oscar Piastri is still clearly in the lead and has remained consistent in results so far, anything can happen in the final seven races. If there is any driver who can achieve such a great comeback in performance, it is Max Verstappen. Hence, time will tell about how the remainder of the year pans out for the leaders of the pack.

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