The 2025 F1 World Championship is on the edge with Max Verstappen closing up on Lando Norris to clinch his fifth consecutive title. However, he hasn’t had the smoothest season. Red Bull Racing underperformed for a large part of the season while McLaren was in an all-out domination.

While this is the first time that Norris is realistically in championship contention, Verstappen sounded rather confident as he claimed that he would have won the championship much earlier if he were driving the McLaren. But that statement has left a sour note for Norris.

Lando Norris hits back at Verstappen and Red Bull

“We wouldn’t be talking about a championship. It would already have been won, easily.”

Max Verstappen said when he was asked about the results if he were racing for McLaren. It seems to make sense. McLaren has had a dominating car since the season started, yet Verstappen managed to keep himself in championship contention. This was at the same time when the RBR struggled for pace in most races.

However, the statement witnessed a strong response from Lando Norris. While there is some level of expertise coming from the four-time F1 World Champion, Norris feels that there is a certain concept that both Verstappen and Red Bull Racing follow.

“He’s very welcome to say everything he wants to be honest,” Norris said during a press conference in Qatar. “He’s won four-word championships. I have a lot of respect and I think that gives anyone a lot of credit in general. He’s achieved an incredible amount, more than anyone generally dreams of achieving.”

But after the respect, he gave his raw reply. He pointed out how the Dutchman and his team can get “aggressive” and talk “non-sense”.

“Max generally has a good clue about a lot of things but there’s also a lot of things he doesn’t have much of a clue about. But it’s also Red Bull’s way of going about things, it’s his kind of aggressive nature and just talking nonsense a lot of the time.”

Norris then took a subtle dig further by pointing out what they do differently as a team.

“What we do as a team, which is just kind of keep our heads down and keep focused. Maybe he would have done, but he hasn’t so far, and he keeps trying.”

His answer is clear. McLaren doesn’t fall in the trap, they keep their eyes on the prize. And as for Verstappen, he “keeps trying” to get into Norris’ head but he’s unable to succeed so far.

Meanwhile, Lando Norris’ teammate, Oscar Piastri, is just as much involved in the championship fight as Verstappen. He recently won the Sprint in Qatar, gaining a lead over the Dutchman, who finished in fourth place, behind Norris.

How did the 2025 F1 championship blow open in the final two races?

Oscar Piastri was the favorite for the championship in the season’s initial rounds. He consistently delivered strong results and kept a strong lead in the standings. However, Max Verstappen kept his consistent finishes up despite Red Bull’s overall struggle with performance.

Lando Norris has become the stronger of the two drivers at McLaren more recently.

He had a strong lead at the top of the championship standings heading into the Las Vegas GP earlier in November. He extended his lead further with a P2 finish. Verstappen won the race, and Oscar Piastri was down in P4. However, both McLarens were found to have excessive skid block wear after the race and were disqualified.

Verstappen benefited the most with this, shrinking Norris’ lead to just 24 points. The championship battle has effectively moved into the final two races of the season. Although Lando Norris has a slight chance of winning his first title in Qatar this weekend, will Verstappen deliver the maximum points to extend the championship battle to the season finale at Yas Marina?