Is Lando Norris F1's weakest world champion?

The history books have been written already, Lando Norris is now a Formula 1 world champion and the 11th British star to achieve the feat - and the first from the UK to win their maiden crown since Jenson Button in 2009.

There is no taking that away from him now or ever, and he has fought off strong competition to achieve it including four-time champion Max Verstappen and McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri.

However, it's also widely known that McLaren have had by far the best car all season. Don't believe me? Look at the world championship. They have over 800 points. Mercedes are next closest and have nowhere near 500. The constructors' title was done in September, and in reality long before that.

Why? Because McLaren have been ultra dominant. Max Verstappen and Red Bull can count themselves lucky Ferrari disappeared in the second half of the season to ensure they could mop up the scraps of third place.

So with that context, how on earth has the drivers' championship gone down to the final race, with Verstappen performing a miracle comeback. He was 104 points behind then leader Piastri in the summer, and heading into the final race had cut the gap to the top (now Norris) to 12 points.

Verstappen then not only took pole at the Yas Marina Circuit, but the win too. Only losing the title by two points as Norris got the minimum third place he needed.

So Verstappen's 1457 day run as champion is over - of course starting at Yas Marina when he controversially beat Lewis Hamilton four years ago.

Yet, crucially pretty much everyone knows he is still the best in the business. He does too. He agreed and repeated common consensus that he would have won the world championship weeks, if not months, ago had he been driving a McLaren.

Title win not Norris's best season

Norris's campaign has been marred by clumsy mistakes and accusations (some of them fair) that he was lacking the mentality to take on the title fight, and gaining help from McLaren at the expense of Piastri (not so fair).

What is true is this has not been his best F1 season by the way he has driven, even if it has made him world champion.

But this is also a reason why criticising his qualifications for being a world champion is harsh - some have suggested he could be one of the weakest ever.

Norris is a superb driver and before 2025 had enjoyed an excellent rise that put him into championship contention, threatening Verstappen at the back end of 2024.

Don't believe me? Ask Lewis Hamilton, who after a duel with Norris in Austria a few years back told his own Mercedes team "Lando is such a great driver". And he doesn't give out compliments like that too often - especially dring a race.

The world champion arc has long been in the process and this one average on-track year is not how he should be measured solely for his overall ability. It did look like the weight of expectation was too heavy a burden for Norris in the early season when he was title favourite.

But as soon as he looked out of it after retiring at the Dutch GP, his form rocketed - and it coincided with the pressure on him disappearing. He was losing the mental battle.

After reeling Piastri in, he overtook his McLaren team-mate after upping his game and never looked back.

His tearful and relieved looking reaction after winning the title says everything about his year. It's been an almighty slog that has grounded him down at least mentally.

But he has now achieved his lifelong dream and don't underestimate how that will impact him in 2026.

With the pressure off, expect him to have a much better season next time out as he gets back to his best. Lando Norris for double world champion? It's a smart money move right now even if the 2026 F1 regs are a step into the unknown.

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