Norris evolution brought the fight to Verstappen - Stella

McLaren team principal Andrea Stella says Lando Norris’ constant evolution has helped him become world champion in 2025, after learning he could compete with Max Verstappen last year.

In 2024 Norris tried to chase down Verstappen in the drivers’ championship as McLaren became more competitive, but the Briton fell short with three rounds remaining. This year, with Red Bull still struggling for consistency for the first two thirds of the season, Norris had to overcome team-mate Oscar Piastri as well as beat Verstappen, and Stella says the new world champion’s improvement throughout the season should not be underestimated.

“The level of Formula 1 drivers nowadays is so high that you cannot succeed – and for clarity, when we talk about succeeding, it's so close in the classification, and even between Lando and Oscar, they are two worthwhile champions, and it was a matter of a few points in the end when you scored more than 400 points,” Stella said. But to compete at this level, the only way to stay in the quest is to keep evolving continuously.

“And if I look at Lando, definitely there was a lot that was taken away from the quest last year, even if it didn't go to the last race, I think Lando almost elevated his status, like ‘I can compete with Max’.

“There were some learning points, like Austria, it was a tough one, but this season there was another important turning point in my view, which is the way Lando, and we'll talk specifically about him for a moment, responded to the difficulties we had at the start of the season.

“There, there was the start of a process which was structured, it was holistic, it was involving the personal development, professional, driving, racecraft, and I think it makes me particularly glad that Lando could capitalize on this, because this has been something that not necessarily I've seen many times before, in terms of the amount of work, the people involved, and the rate of development.”

Stella added that Piastri has also been improving quickly throughout his three years with the team, and that their ability to handle disappointments has been particularly impressive.

“This again is valid for both our drivers, [they became more capable] of absorbing a couple of tough moments, like when we needed to tell the drivers that we got disqualified, that was tough, because they had done the job, but we had not, and they lost a lot of points” he said. “And in a similar way absorbing the fact that in Qatar we had a moment where we could have done better, but we never pointed the finger at the team.

“So there's so many aspects on which both drivers have grown, and especially this constant support to the team, not only is the one that makes me most proud of our two guys, but I think it's also the most important for the overall success.”