Verstappen 'sacrifice mentality' that crushed Norris revealed

Lando Norris has reflected on the aggressive mentality enforced by Max Verstappen as they battled for the F1 title last year.

Norris was forced to settle for the runner-up spot while Verstappen clinched his fourth consecutive F1 championship.

The pair came to blows in Austria as Verstappen looked to defend the race lead, while he also ran Norris off the road in the US and Mexico in an effort to protect his championship advantage.

Norris has vowed to get his “elbows out” for the upcoming campaign, something he failed to capitalise on during 2024.

“I wasn’t, simply, quite at the level that I needed to be to race against Max,” Norris conceded to media including RacingNews365.

“We’re talking about probably going up against one of the hardest attacking, defence guys you can ever go up against.

“We saw in Mexico, [he] very willingly sacrificed himself for the benefit of the overall outcome.

“When that’s the mentality of a driver, whether it’s Max or any driver, that’s a very difficult one to come on top of, when you’re 50 points behind or 40 points behind in the championship. It’s never going to be a win for me.”

Norris details crucial change for 2025 F1 title fight

McLaren team principal Andrea Stella has highlighted stating the new season on the front foot will be crucial to the team's title bid.

With the fight at the front of the grid expected to be close between several teams, Norris mirrored Stella's outlook.

“What’s the main thing that’s got to change this year? I just need more points from the beginning, hopefully it’s the other way around.

“With how he drives, and the risks that he takes, and the aggressiveness that he has, there was almost no way that I could come back from the deficit that I had.

“There would have been too many scenarios that replicated Mexico or the Red Bull Ring, where we were both out in a way, and it benefitted him more than me.

“But I learned a lot from those moments.”