Lando Norris has a Formula One curse to snap in 2025 as he attempts to overcome Max Verstappen. The Dutchman finished sixth in the season's final Grand Prix in Abu Dhabi while the McLaren man sealed his fourth race win of 2024.
Yet Verstappen still finished 63 points clear of the Brit in the Drivers' Championship on his way to a fourth consecutive crown.
The Red Bull driver will be fancied to become the first driver in F1 history to make it five in a row next year. Norris vowed in Abu Dhabi: "Next year is going to be my year."
Yet every driver who has ended P2 behind Verstappen in the driver's standings since 2021 has failed to win a single race the following season.
In 2021 it was of course Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton who ended second to the Dutchman after Michael Masi sparked controversy at the final race of the year.
The seven-time champion failed to win once in a disappointing 2022, ending sixth in the standings with five second-placed finishes.
While Hamilton failed to sit on the top step of the podium that year, Charles Leclerc did so twice in the Ferrari.
The Monegasque ended second to Verstappen who won 15 races as he eased to the championship.
But like Hamilton, the next year, Leclerc went winless. Verstappen was utterly dominant in 2023 with 19 wins from 22 races.
Two of the other three events were won by his team-mate Sergio Perez.
The Mexican, 12 months on from finishing a career-best P2 in the Drivers' Championship, suffered a dreadful 2024. He started the year with four podiums from the first five races.
He then failed to finish in the top three again and ended the year on 152 points - 285 less than Verstappen.
The 34-year-old is expected to lose his seat after concluding the championship in eighth.
As well as four wins, Norris backed up his second place with another nine podiums. He also won the sprint race in Brazil and finished P2 in Qatar.
Now, his goal is clear - to end Verstappen's reign as world champion. But the 25-year-old will first have to start by doing what Hamilton, Leclerc and Perez couldn't by winning a race in the following season.
Whether he can do that remains to be seen, but he vowed after his win led McLaren to their first Constructors' Championship since 1998:
"We want to win the constructors’, we want to win the drivers’ next year.
"I made my mistakes this year, but I've learned a lot, and I've learned a lot from Max and my competitors around me. As much as I'm happy now, I'm excited to get next year going."
