Lando Norris, the accomplished McLaren competitor, has forecasted a challenging beginning for Lewis Hamilton at Ferrari in the forthcoming 2025 Formula 1 season. Norris is of the opinion that Hamilton, a seven-time World Champion, may find it hard to acclimatize to his new team following a 12-year-long stint at Mercedes.
Hamilton’s inaugural Free Practice session at the Australian Grand Prix concluded with him in the 12th position, a clear sign that he was still finding his feet with the new vehicle. Meanwhile, Norris demonstrated McLaren’s continued competitiveness by leading the first session at Albert Park.
The second practice session, however, saw Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc edge out Norris, while Hamilton made significant strides, climbing to fifth place. Norris, reflecting on the season’s impending title race, opined that Hamilton might require some time to get into his stride at Ferrari.
Norris shared with a select group of media outlets, including Motorsport Week, “I don’t think I’m just going to be racing against Max this year. I think it’s going to be Charles and Lewis, it’s going to be Oscar [Piastri]. It’s going to be both Red Bull drivers and Mercedes drivers too. So I look forward to all of the battles, and of course, the more wars that can be on track between others, the better for us.”
He went on to add, “But I don’t expect that to happen too much, I think Lewis will still take a little time to settle in. That doesn’t mean he won’t be quick from the beginning, but there’s always things in the first few races. Especially when you change team and you’ve been with one team for such a long time, it takes a bit of time to get going.”
Norris, who secured four race victories in the previous season, had a challenging time trying to unseat Max Verstappen in 2024. Verstappen, who emerged as the title winner at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, often had the upper hand in their on-track duels.
However, Norris considers his experiences last year to be valuable lessons. He said, “I learned a lot of things last year; I think I learned two big things. One was, I clearly wasn’t quite ready to deliver on everything that I needed to deliver on, from a racing point of view, and that’s just because racing against Max is a unique situation. You don’t get to experience it in any other way of life until you really get to that point.”
He further added, “So I learned that aspect of Max, and I also learned where I stood in that situation, which was not at the right level. I learned from those things, and I think already in the last couple of races, I improved on a lot of those situations.”
Norris is eager to revisit his battles with Verstappen, and is equally excited to face any other driver on the track. His anticipation for the 2025 season is palpable, and it will certainly be intriguing to see how Hamilton adjusts to his new team, Ferrari.
