Outside Line: Norris deserves respect from his detractors

Before the Mexico City Grand Prix, I wrote that Norris must drive like Max Verstappen to be the world champion this year. I doubt he read it, but right now he is doing exactly that.

This has been two race weekends of Verstappen-style dominance. Relentless, cold, efficient. Two weekends in a row, he looked untouchable. This is momentum that wins world titles.

Piastri, sad to say, has crumbled. Totally. Inexplicably rapidly. Maybe he can still salvage something, and I genuinely hope he does because the kid deserves a break. But Lando has owned him for longer now than either has ever owned the other. At a critical stage. Maybe it is experience.

But I do not think Norris is getting the credit he deserves.

Let us rewind. The criticism has been brutal. In my own WhatsApp group, guys I respect tell me Norris just does not excite them. As a driver, as a person. Does not move the needle. And I had to ask myself why.

I like Norris. I tend to want the good guys to win. Rarely do they. Senna was a genius, but a bastard on track. Schumacher, ruthless. Hamilton, the same. Verstappen, the same. Ditto Fernando Alonso, Sebastian Vettel etc. Assholes on tap. In contrast to the aforementioned, Norris is making a case that nice guys can win it too.

Nice Guys Finish Last as Green Day attest in their song. Indeed, the opposite is rare in Formula 1. We have seen it before. Perhaps to a lesser extent with Mika Hakkinen, maybe? Jenson Button, nice guy, world champion. Nico Rosberg, same story.

But here is a younger view on Lando's lack of hero factor. My son is 20-years-old. Sports mad. Lives and breathes Formula 1, football (aka soccer), NBA. He said something that nailed it: “When I Google Nigel Mansell, I get amazing photos and stories of him in F1 action. When I Google Lando Norris, I get influencer stuff. Merch. TikToks. What even is he?”

That hit me. In twenty years’ time, what will the legacy look like? The issue is not that Norris lacks talent. He has it, as we all know. It is that he does not fit the traditional mould of a racing driver, nor ignites the imagination of the old school that F1 is happy to marginalise. At the same time, he does not inspire the new generation that Formula 1 claims to be reaching out to.

While his fellow drivers pose at premieres of movies in ill-fitting suits dictated by fashion has that fund them to look idiotic, Verstappen is pounding laps at the Nürburgring in a GT3. That is his job. The reason he lives. He is a racing driver, not an influencer. He makes that quite clear.

Nevertheless, aside from this, Norris still deserves huge credit for what he has done. Inadvertently or not, he heard what we, you and I, the critics said earlier in the season about his attitude, took it on board, put his head down, and responded the best way possible, by driving like Max Verstappen. And winning in style.

Unless Piastri conjures a miracle or Max steals it late, Norris is going to be 2025 F1 world champion.

With a 24-point lead in the Drivers' standings with three GP weekends, including another Sprint, he can afford a cautious smile, but the job is far from done. Amid all the noise, Piastri’s collapse, Verstappen’s resurgence, Ferrari’s fade, Antonelli's rise sits a truth most have missed.

Lando Norris is on fire. Respect and admiration are deserved in my opinion. And I am now okay that it is he him taking the F1 World Champion crown from Max. A loathsome idea to me at one point, but I am warming to it more and more.