McLaren have been warned that they need to make Lando Norris their number one driver from the start of the 2025 season if they want to win the championship.
The Woking-based team had a competitive car last year, but Max Verstappen ultimately won his fourth world championship due to Norris frequently losing positions on the opening lap and due to Oscar Piastri taking points away from him.
However, ex-F1 driver Marc Surer believes Norris has addressed his weakness and has an excellent chance of winning the 2025 Drivers’ Championship if McLaren provide him with a good car.
“I think Lando Norris is ready to win the championship this year if the car is good enough,” Surer told MyBettingEdge.
“He had some weaknesses last year, like his poor starts – even when on pole position he had a poor start.
“And also on the first lap, he lost many places on the first lap. But he solved these problems; by the end of the year, he was able to hold position at the start, so I think he fixed these weaknesses.”
Continuing, Surer described Piastri as a “lucky” driver and stressed that McLaren cannot afford to repeat the same mistakes that they made last year.
“His biggest problem is now his team-mate. He (Piastri) is a lucky driver. He is maybe not as fast as Lando Norris, but Piastri is a lucky driver – he sometimes has chances and he is able to take advantage of these chances when they come up.
“So if McLaren want to win the championship, they have to put Lando Norris as their number one driver. Otherwise Piastri will take points away from him.
“But I’m not worried about Lando. He is ready, he corrected his mistakes from last year. He is able to win the championship (in 2025.)”