Lando Norris makes 'proved wrong' admission after F1 title 'doubts'

Lando Norris has said winning his maiden F1 drivers' championship has allowed him to "prove myself wrong", admitting he had "doubts" at the start of the campaign.

The McLaren driver beat Max Verstappen to the title by just two points, securing the third-place finish he needed at the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix to take the crown from the Red Bull driver.

Having been fighting with Oscar Piastri all season, as the Australian fell away, Verstappen came to the fore, ultimately being the driver to put Norris under the most pressure as the year came to a climax.

It was an up-and-down year for the British driver, who had to play second best to his team-mate for much of the schedule, with the 24-year-old well positioned to take the title when he led Norris in the standings by 34 points after the Dutch Grand Prix.

However, amid Piastri's loss of form, the 11-time grand prix winner fought back, reclaiming control of the title fight after the Mexico City Grand Prix, and not relinquishing that advantage over the final four rounds.

"I've had a lot of tough moments at the beginning of the season," Norris told media, including RacingNews365. "I had great moments – winning the first race in Australia certainly gave me a big boost. But quite quickly, I had not the best run of results, and Oscar did an incredible job, was consistently ahead of me.

"It got tricky at times. I think at the end of the day, it shows that consistency over a year is what helps achieve what we've achieved.

"But those tricky moments, like everyone says, you’ve got to learn from them, acknowledge them, understand them. I've had to go above and beyond in terms of expanding my group, the people I work with on the track, and more so off the track.

"The amount of people that I have in my corner – not from McLaren but externally: my friends, my family, my coaches, people that help me think in better ways and perform in better ways.

"So many people allowed me to go out and be more calm and almost try and not acknowledge the pressure or just perform under pressure and have the second half of the season that I had. If I look back on it, my first half of the season – not the most impressive.

"Certainly, times I made some mistakes, made some bad judgments. I made my errors, as I'm sure every driver would admit to.

"But how I managed to turn all of that and have the second half of the season that I had is what makes me very proud - that I've been able to prove myself wrong."

Removing all doubt

Norris headed into the campaign as the odds-on favourite to take the title, but did not fully believe he would get his championship over the line at the time.

"There were doubts I had in the beginning of the year, and I proved myself wrong," he explained. "And that's something that makes me very happy."

He described winning the title as "a moment that I got to thank them all for that – all their hard work, all the stuff that other people do for me. That is my way of saying thank you."

Reflecting on the closing stages of the finale at the Yas Marina Circuit, he added: "But I did feel calm. I felt calm until three corners to go. I started to shake a little bit.

"I got to think of all those incredible memories very quickly, and then I got to see the team when I went over the line. And that is a moment that I'll never forget."