'I've definitely got what it takes' - Lando Norris decodes what he needs to do to beat Max Verstappen

Lando Norris had a breakthrough year for McLaren in 2024. He was in contention to win the Driver's Championship and was only beaten by Max Verstappen during the Las Vegas Grand Prix. In 2024, Norris claimed four victories, including his first in Formula 1, and claimed eight pole positions.

The British driver may have lost the championship but believes he has what it takes to turn things around in the next season. He also believes that he may have decoded what he needs to do to get the better of Verstappen. 

"I've just always been quite the opposite kind of guy, and I always find I need to go out to prove it to myself before I want to start believing anything. This year, yeah, I made some mistakes and I didn't give a good enough fight to Max, but it was a good effort," he said, as quoted by GBN.

"The one thing I've learnt from it is that I have what it takes. That's not an over-confident saying—I know I made my mistakes; I know what I'm capable of doing," he added. 

If I improve this little bit here, this little bit here: Lando Norris

The McLaren driver stated that losing places at the start against the Red Bull driver led to him believing that he did not have what it took. However, he believes working on it has surely changed his mindset. 

"I obviously lost out on a few things, and there were maybe three starts this year, which lost me one or two positions at times. None of them, when I look back on them, made me feel like, 'Well, I've not got what it takes'," he said.

"Those moments only came when it was directly against Max. And it's Max—going up against Max in any state is always going to be tricky. I didn't have what it took this season to fight against Max and deliver what I needed to deliver," he admitted.

"But it certainly gave me the feeling of, 'Okay, if I improve this little bit here, this little bit here', for the first time, I have confidence in saying I've definitely got what it takes," he concluded.