Lando Norris has unloaded on title rival Max Verstappen, dismissing the Red Bull star’s claim that he would “easily” win the 2025 championship in a McLaren as pure fantasy.
With just two races left and only 25 points separating them, the heat is officially on.
“He’s Earned the Right… But He’s Also Wrong”
Speaking after finishing third in the Qatar sprint — won by teammate Oscar Piastri — Norris couldn’t resist addressing Verstappen’s jab.
“Max is welcome to say everything he wants,” Norris shrugged.
“He’s won four world championships; he’s earned that. But there are also a lot of things he doesn’t have much of a clue about. Red Bull loves to talk aggressively… and yeah, talk nonsense most of the time.”
McLaren United, Red Bull Very Much Not
McLaren
wrapped up the constructors’ title weeks ago, and both Norris and Piastri remain in the drivers’ fight — an internal rivalry handled with surprising harmony compared with Red Bull’s one-man-team blueprint.
Verstappen may get No.1 status baked into the garage setup, but it didn’t help him much under the Lusail floodlights.
Starting sixth, Verstappen finished fourth and was never a factor in Norris’s race. “I never saw him,” Norris said—before softening the blow by adding, “Of course I saw him, but he was never a threat.”
Eyes on the Prize
Norris can clinch his first world championship today in Qatar. If not, the battle goes to a final-race shootout in Abu Dhabi — where Verstappen has historically thrived, but McLaren now hold the fastest car, the momentum, and perhaps the stronger pairing.
For Norris, though, the noise doesn’t matter.
“I’m keeping my head down,” he said. “One race at a time. Let everyone else do the talking.”
(with Reuters inputs)
