Why Lando Norris is worthy of his crown but Max Verstappen remains king

Lando Norris clinched his first F1 drivers' championship at the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, enduring the pressure of the moment, putting together a champion's drive to the third-place finish he needed to seal his title.

In the end, he prevailed against Max Verstappen by just two points, with Oscar Piastri a further 11 points back.

In some corners, there has been the suggestion that the British driver does not deserve his championship, that his adversary in the Red Bull or his McLaren team-mate — who suffered a horrid loss of form during the run-in — are somehow more deserving of title glory.

Firstly, any of the three would have been worthy of the crown. Secondly, nothing in sport is deserved; everything is earned — and Norris more than earned his championship.

It wasn't always pretty. There were mistakes and missed opportunities, and after his retirement from the Dutch Grand Prix (through no fault of his own), it appeared to be slipping away, having come into the campaign as the favourite.

But there were considerable lessons learned along the way, and he fought back in the face of diminished odds to prove his doubters wrong on multiple fronts.

Norris set out to show that you do not have to subscribe to a pre-conceived notion of what or who a champion is. That there is not only one blueprint to follow; you need not conform, you can chart your own course and still win, your own way.

He did that, and not just to be contrarian. He was unapologetically himself in the process of dismantling that idea.

How much better will Norris now get?

Norris' perceived lack of mental toughness is well-trodden ground by this stage. Now, it will be viewed as less salient than before, but it was nonetheless a prevailing narrative throughout the season.

Earlier in the year, on the RacingNews365 podcast, I said something to the effect of: You get the sense this could be Norris' only chance to win a championship, but you get the feeling Piastri will also have future opportunities as his star continues to soar.

I stand by the second count. The Australian will come back a stronger, more well-rounded driver. At only 24 years old, he promises to develop into a force to be reckoned with, a force he showed flashes of being in 2025.

But I no longer feel the same about the first. Winning his maiden title — getting over that hump — will also make Norris better, that's who he is — as a person and as a driver.

A more formidable challenger, already a champion and only 26 himself, now ready to take on the dawn of a new era in Formula 1 as number 1.

Dethroned but still king

On the subject of eras, in his post-race Notebook, Ted Kravitz described Norris' championship is a "pause" to the era of Verstappen.

It's hard to argue against that. The Dutchman has been the standout performer in F1 over the past five seasons, winning four-consecutive crowns in dominant fashion, and — whilst he is adamant this is not the case — had it not been for his abject loss of control at the Spanish Grand Prix, he would have taken the title this year, too.

If dragging the RB20 to the drivers' championship last year wasn't impressive enough, coming painfully close to emulating that result with the RB21 was.

Save for the blip in Barcelona, Verstappen showed he can do everything with anything, and just because he has been dethroned, that reality has not changed. He can do things with a Formula 1 car that others cannot. He is that good.

No-one truly knows what awaits in 2026, especially for Red Bull, which is entering a new era of its own as a power unit manufacturer for the first time.

It may, and probably will, take time for the six-time constructors' champion to refind its feet, let alone re-establish title-winning ways.

He's contracted to Red Bull until the end of the 2028 campaign. He's publicly said in the past that his next deal will be his last in F1, and who knows how long that might be.

If he doesn't walk away entirely, Verstappen may see out that process in Milton Keynes, or he may jump ship. If it's the latter, he'll likely have his pick of the paddock — or at least most of it.

Either way, the resumption of his reign may not be immediate, but it is difficult to escape the feeling it is coming at some point. If he wants it to.