The Brit came closer than ever to achieving his first title in 2024, but McLaren couldn’t quite deliver as well under pressure as Red Bull could.
Norris won the final race of the season at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix and takes the most momentum into 2025.
On the other hand, Verstappen clashed with Oscar Piastri and left himself close to a one-race ban after accumulating 8 penalty points for the 12-month period.
It means that the Dutchman will have to be careful not to get involved in more than two serious incidents through the first 11 races next season, or he risks falling behind in the Drivers’ Championship fight.
Jolyon Palmer thinks Verstappen bullied Norris this year, especially after the two came to blows at both the Mexico City Grand Prix and the United States Grand Prix.
They’re probably going to be close on track again soon, and if Red Bull fails to regain their advantage then expect to see more aggression from the four-time champion again.
Norris, Verstappen and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc have long since been fans of sim racing dating back to the Covid-19 pandemic when they were forced to find means of entertainment indoors.
That was nearly five years ago when Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes were dominating, but the picture has changed now and those same younger drivers make up the majority of the F1 title battle now.
Verstappen’s energy was gone at the end of 2024, but it didn’t stop him from continuing to stream his sim racing and engage with fans.
It’s something he has told ams.f1’s Michael Schmidt that he is doing more of it than ever now, while his rivals are giving it up.
“Verstappen, for example, he drives day and night in his home simulator,” he said. “I asked him recently, ‘There is still Leclerc and Norris, they do that?’.
“He said ‘Leclerc is now almost out of the picture and Norris is doing less and less’.
He says he’s doing more and more. So, he’s constantly driving some kind of race, not just Formula 1 but also GT3.”
A McLaren engineer saw massive changes in Norris this year as he matured and learned how to deal with fighting at the front.
After backing up the performances of 2023 with an even better season, the Woking-based outfit is considered the Formula 1 team to beat right now.
He’s probably in a better position than Verstappen after ending the year with a race victory and Constructors’ Championship at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
Red Bull have too much of a deficit to recover over the winter and they might start 2025 on the back foot.
It means that it could be a bit of an open-goal opportunity for Norris to take advantage of.
Similar to this year, he could build an advantage early on and never look back, but he’s going to have teammate Piastri and both Ferrari drivers on his case too.
