Nico Rosberg explains where Lando Norris still needs to improve – Why he is still the “favorite for the driver’s title” for him despite this and which statistic speaks in favor of the Briton
Although he won his fourth consecutive world title last year, Nico Rosberg does not consider Max Verstappen the favorite for the Formula 1 drivers’ world championship in 2025. The 2016 champion sees runner-up Lando Norris at the top of the list.
“For me, the favorite for the drivers‘ title next year,” says Rosberg on Sky about Norris, and reminds: “He said at the end of the race [in Abu Dhabi], ’Next year is my year.’ That’s an announcement, of course.” And Norris definitely has “the chance” too.
“I think he still has a bit of work to do on his mistakes, because the speed is there, it’s really phenomenal,” says Rosberg, who also admits, however, that Norris made ‘one or two too many mistakes’ last season.
Rosberg reminds us that you can’t afford many mistakes “if you want to beat Max Verstappen over an entire season.” In addition, Norris has not yet managed to beat the Dutchman “in a wheel-to-wheel duel” often enough in 2024.
Does Norris have more “self-confidence” now?
“And that’s an area where he still has to find a way to stand up to Max Verstappen. It’s ultra-hard because Max does it so brilliantly. He’s an incredible street fighter in these situations,” says Rosberg from his own experience.
“Lando still has a bit of work to do there,” says the expert, who nevertheless believes Norris ‘will improve a bit there too. That’s why he’s the favorite for next year for me,’ says Rosberg.
Fellow expert Ralf Schumacher believes that Norris had already “developed” in the “last races” of the 2024 season. “His qualifying weakness is gone,” Schumacher has observed and explains: “Of course, it also helped him that he was better at the end, that gives a driver self-confidence.”
Statistics favor Norris title in 2025
And the statistics also suggest that Norris could have a good chance of winning the world title in 2025. Since 2014, with one exception, the driver who won the season finale in Abu Dhabi has always gone on to become world champion the following year.
Lewis Hamilton won the title after Abu Dhabi victories at the end of 2014, 2016, 2018 and 2019, Nico Rosberg triumphed in 2015, became world champion a year later and between 2020 and 2023 Max Verstappen won four times in a row in Abu Dhabi.
The only driver who has not been able to convert an Abu Dhabi victory into a world championship title in the following year is Valtteri Bottas. The Finn won in 2017, but in 2018, Mercedes team-mate Hamilton was crowned world champion again.
