D EXPECT FIREWORKS!

F1 hot shot Lando Norris is revved up and ready to challenge king of the track Max Verstappen

- COMPILED BY DENNIS CAVERNELIS

A Lot can change in a year – just ask Lando Norris.

Twelve months ago he hadn’t won a single Formula One race and he was taunted with the nickname Lando “No-wins”. Now he’s a championship contender and the guy expected to give his fiercest rival, Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, a run for his money.

Lando (25) has long been hailed as one of the up-and-coming stars of the grid and now, coming off a magnificent F1 season with four victories, including his first win in Miami and nine pole positions, the pressure is on for him to go from bubbling under to top of the pile.

Pundits and bookies are united in making him the favourite to win the 2025 championship, which got under way in Melbourne, Australia, recently, and Lando is feeling good about it.

“After last season I guess that’s the expectation from everyone,” he told NBC News shortly before the Melbourne race.

“We’re feeling confident. Competition’s tough, so we kind of have to wait [to see] where we stack up. But knowing that everyone thinks we’re going to be at the top, and that that’s what they’re depending on, makes me happy.”

Winning won’t be easy though and Lando knows it, especially with one-time McLaren driver and seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton having been poached from Mercedes to race for Ferrari alongside Charles Leclerc.

“Ferrari have been able to improve a lot,” Lando says. “So I’m expecting them to be a good competition. But I expect the same from Mercedes, and I expect Red Bull to also be good. But the form Ferrari had at the end of last year they were probably our biggest competitors, more so than Red Bull.”

His toughest rival remains Max, who Lando describes as “probably the hardest guy to race on the track”.

“He’s probably one of the most aware in terms of situations and it helps that he’s been in this position for the past four or five years. For me, it’s still quite new.”