Lando Norris captured the 2025 drivers’ championship in a dramatic F1 season, but his status as a ‘deserving’ champion sparked controversy within the motorsport community. Offering a candid assessment, Guenther Steiner delivered his Lando Norris F1 championship verdict, directly addressing doubters while reflecting on the season’s intense competition.
Norris Wins in a Season Marked by Shifting Fortunes
The season saw McLaren enjoying clear dominance in the constructors’ standings, locking in their title with six races left on the calendar. Oscar Piastri, Norris’ teammate, looked poised to claim the drivers’ championship as the early favorite, yet his campaign cooled, creating an opening for Norris. As Norris surged to the front, Max Verstappen launched an unyielding late-season charge, ensuring a fierce three-way contest that extended to the final race. Verstappen, driving for Red Bull, finished on the podium in each of the ten post-summer break contests, cementing his status as the crowd favorite.
Despite McLaren’s early lead, the team’s consistency faltered in the closing stages. Nonetheless, their earlier success proved invaluable, helping Norris hold off Verstappen by a slender two-point margin and clinch his first world championship in Abu Dhabi. This achievement followed a tense finale that highlighted the fine margins separating triumph from defeat as the championship picture shifted race by race.
Steiner Rejects Claims of an ‘Undeserving’ Champion
The tight finish sparked debate among fans, with some suggesting that Norris had not done enough to merit the title due to struggles earlier in the year. Guenther Steiner, previously at the helm of Haas F1, disagreed sharply with these assessments. Speaking to Krone, he stated:
“I can’t agree with that. He absolutely deserved the title. Lando fought until the very end. We had already written him off during the season – myself included – but he bravely fought his way back, and that’s why he became world champion. He learned his lesson and avoided the mistakes he made at the beginning of the season.”
Despite securing the title, Norris did not top either the team principals’ or driver peers’ assessments as the year’s standout performer. An F1-sanctioned poll of eight team leaders and sixteen drivers ranked Verstappen as the season’s best, illustrating the divided views regarding Norris’ breakthrough victory.
A Unique Approach Draws Criticism and Praise
Lando Norris did not follow the traditional mold of title-winning drivers, often facing criticism from analysts and experts for a lack of aggression typically seen in former champions. The atmosphere fostered by McLaren, known for its refined ‘Papaya Rules,’ further set him apart from his peers who prided themselves on hard-nosed tactics. Despite this, Norris consistently insisted on staying true to himself, valuing honesty and fairness in his approach to racing.
Asked about his journey after clinching the championship with a podium finish in Abu Dhabi, Norris explained his philosophy and his thoughts about how the title would shape his career:
“I believe I won the championship this year my way – by being a fair driver, by trying to be an honest driver,” Norris replied. “At times, could I have been more aggressive and got off the brakes and had a few people over? I certainly could have done, and maybe I would need to do more of that in the future. But did I need to do it this year? Is that the way I want to go racing? Is that me? It’s not.”
This perspective stood in contrast to assessments comparing Norris to champions of the past. He addressed these comparisons directly in the same press conference:
“And I’m sure if you compare me, if that’s what you wanna do, to all the champions: have I been as aggressive as them at times? No. Have I been as daring as them at times? No. But did I do just what I needed to do to win the world championship? Did I perform consistently? Did I perform when I needed to under the most pressure? Post-Zandvoort, did I come back in the way I had to? Did I have three, four weekends of great results? I did. And I performed when I needed to perform to win the World Championship this season. And in the end, that’s what I needed to do,” the McLaren driver added.
Changing Era Limits Norris’ Opportunity for Repeat Success
Norris’s title victory, though hard-fought and deeply personal, comes at a pivotal moment in Formula 1’s ongoing evolution. With the sport transitioning into a new set of technical regulations in 2026, McLaren faces uncertainty about whether it can sustain its status at the front of the grid. This shift may limit Norris’s chances of consecutive championships, casting the 26-year-old’s hard-won triumph as even more significant in retrospect, given that dominant eras in Formula 1 are often fleeting.
Ultimately, the Lando Norris F1 championship verdict from figures like Guenther Steiner and Norris himself reflect the complexities of modern racing—where not only speed but also character, strategy, and adaptability shape the narrative of who deserves motorsport’s top prize.
