Lando Norris deserves respect and peerless Brazil victory should silence the doubters

F1 is the widely acclaimed pinnacle of motorsport, so you’d have been forgiven for thinking that Lando Norris’ world championship victory in 2025 would have been enough to get the critics off his back.

However, in a social media age where partisanship rules the roost and objectivity is at a premium, becoming an F1 champion has often been used as a stick to beat Norris with, rather than to celebrate his achievements.

Of course, everybody is entitled to their opinions, but to those who dubbed Norris the ‘worst F1 champion ever’ or celebrated his downfall after Kimi Antonelli secured the 2026 championship in Mexico City last weekend, the McLaren star had the perfect response on track in Sao Paulo.

Norris excelled in the wet in Brazil

Performing well in wet races is widely regarded as a respected metric of how good an F1 driver is, with rainy conditions somewhat levelling the playing field in terms of car performance, and driver ability coming to the fore.

Just look at Fernando Alonso at Interlagos. His Aston Martin has been terrible all year, but in the wet conditions the two-time world champion showed his class, putting the car into Q3 for the first time this season and qualifying P8 for Sunday’s race.

Well, Norris too was phenomenal in the wet, and it all started on Saturday when he took an incredibly impressive pole position. The McLaren star was more than two tenths clear of his nearest rival George Russell in the treacherous conditions at the end of Q3, and more than six tenths clear of newly-crowned world champion Antonelli in third.

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Of course, there was no Max Verstappen or Lewis Hamilton at the sharp end of qualifying due to their impending grid penalties - Verstappen chose not to come out of the garage for Q2 and Hamilton only did one run - but it’s important to note that Norris was faster than both of those drivers in Q1 when they all set lap times, just under three tenths ahead of Verstappen and more than seven tenths clear of Hamilton.

Sunday’s race then served as another reminder of Norris’ ability and his credentials as one of F1’s top talents. Despite the poor getaway that saw him lose two places to Antonelli and Liam Lawson in the early stages, he eventually found his speed and never looked back, eventually passing the Kiwi to move back up to P2 and then making a charge for the Italian in the lead.

At the changeover from intermediates to dry softs, Norris was around four to five seconds behind the Mercedes, but he was simply able to find grip and temperature on the dry tyres that Antonelli could not, closing the gap to the leader to within a second by the end of lap 19, directly after which the Italian spun under braking heading into turn one.

The only time Norris would relinquish the lead from there on out was when he pitted for fresh tyres later in the race as the likes of Antonelli and Isack Hadjar unsuccessfully tried to make a one-stop work. Verstappen also looked a challenger for the win at one stage, but Norris had superior pace in the dry-to-wet conditions on the softs and then the intermediates, eventually finishing over 14 seconds ahead of the Red Bull man.

The victory made for some nice stats post-race, too. Norris now owns the sixth-best pole-to-win ratio in the history of the sport - behind only Verstappen, Alberto Ascari, Alonso, Michael Schumacher and Hamilton. His win in Brazil also means he has now finished P1 in seven of the last 11 rain-affected competitive sessions in F1.

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It’s time to show Norris some respect

Of course, it was not a totally clean weekend given his poor start, but given the conditions, and the criticism and mockery that he faced in the seven days prior to the grand prix on some sections of social media, Norris can be pretty chuffed with his performance in Sao Paulo.

No, he isn’t perfect. Yes, he says some regretful, impulsive things in the media sometimes. And most importantly, no, he isn’t Max Verstappen. But we call Verstappen a generational talent for a reason.

The point is, Norris doesn’t have to be on a par with or compared to one of the greatest drivers that the sport has ever seen to get the recognition and the respect that he deserves.

Of course he will be, because they are racing in the same era, but in his own right, Norris is an exceptional driver who has proven time and time again that he is more than worthy of being an F1 world champion, with Sunday being just the latest example.

The McLaren driver will never be everyone’s cup of tea, but that should not detract from his achievements or his ability, and the 2026 Brazilian Grand Prix was the perfect response to those who continue to question his credentials.

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Written by

Simmey Hannifin Donaldson - F1 Editor

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