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<\/a><\/p>\n\u201cAnd Lando, for better or worse, is very open about that.\u201d<\/p>\n
That openness became a defining thread of the 2025 season, which saw Norris locked in a fierce intra-team battle with Oscar Piastri while also fending off the late charge of Max Verstappen.<\/p>\n
The campaign swung dramatically at times, with momentum shifting between the McLaren drivers before culminating in a pressure-filled finale in Abu Dhabi.<\/p>\n
Saunders believes that volatility only strengthened Norris\u2019 connection with fans.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think that\u2019s where there is a real relatability with Lando,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think, and I don\u2019t mean this in a bad way, but when you look at Max or Lewis [Hamilton] or even [Sebastian] Vettel and Fernando Alonso, I don\u2019t know if they\u2019re as relatable as Lando in the sense that you don\u2019t feel like they\u2019re going through a similar journey to what most of us do.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhich is a bit of doubt, you know, the feeling that, oh, actually, I don\u2019t know if I\u2019m good enough to do this.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd then when you do do it, you\u2019re like, oh, I am actually good enough to do this.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo I think there\u2019s that human element which I think resonates with people.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Lando](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/XPB_1392498_HiRes.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
An emotional Norris on the podium in Abu Dhabi after being crowned F1 world champion. Image: XPB Images<\/p>\n
Saunders, who currently serves as an F1 writer for ESPN, said the book was conceived in real time as the season unfolded, having already begun compiling notes before being approached shortly after the Abu Dhabi finale to put it together.<\/p>\n
What emerged is a race-by-race retelling of the 2025 championship, supported by more than 100 images and built around the narrative of a driver once labelled \u201cLando No-wins\u201d completing his transformation into a world champion.<\/p>\n
Saunders pointed to Norris\u2019 step-by-step progression as key to understanding that journey.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe is the kind of guy that doesn\u2019t believe he can do something until he\u2019s done it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo when he got his first pole, he was like, \u2018oh, I can do that. It\u2019s achievable\u2019. Win, \u2018oh I can do that\u2019. Championship, the same thing.\u201d<\/p>\n
That gradual build also fed into one of the season\u2019s most compelling storylines \u2014 Norris\u2019 visible struggle with pressure at key moments.<\/p>\n
Saunders recalled the Qatar Grand Prix as a turning point, where the weight of the title fight was clear.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere were times last year when Lando really looked like he was overwhelmed by the pressure,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was actually on the grid in Qatar. I think in Qatar, the ramifications were if he won the race, he won the title. And he was starting between Piastri and Verstappen.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo the whole question was is he going to send one up the inside? As it turned out he kind of just let Max pass, and was like, \u2018I don\u2019t need to\u2019. Which again, I think shows a degree of maturity.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo some people it might have shown a weakness of, \u2018oh you didn\u2019t want to go for it\u2019, but he didn\u2019t need to.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut on the grid before then, I\u2019ve never seen a driver look so outwardly nervous as that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Yet by the time the title was sealed in Abu Dhabi, that tension had evaporated in the post-race press conference in a moment that underscored the very relatability Saunders sees as Norris\u2019 defining trait.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll of that kind of fell away from him in Abu Dhabi,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd he was drinking that beer and he was giggling and laughing. It was great.\u201d<\/p>\n
That relatability, amplified by his presence in Drive to Survive, has helped Norris connect with a younger and more diverse audience, something Saunders views as a milestone for the sport.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think he\u2019s the first kind of Drive to Survive era champion as well,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo as kind of a milestone, as kind of a figure. Obviously Verstappen, but Verstappen was there before Drive to Survive.<\/p>\n
\u201cNorris kind of, his journey was, I think in season one he\u2019s a fresh faced teenager who\u2019s just been signed up to McLaren. So it feels like that era is kind of like coming through a little bit.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it\u2019s just good for that fan base to kind of have a champion as well. He\u2019s a young champion. Gen Z champion. All that stuff.<\/p>\n
\u201c[It\u2019s] kind of like a changing of the guard a little bit.\u201d<\/p>\n
Saunders said he believed the shift is also evident in how Norris is perceived at home in Britain.<\/p>\n
Despite joining a long line of British world champions, including Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button over the past two decades, Saunders believes Norris\u2019 reception has been more complex.<\/p>\n
\u201cI do think that Britain still hasn\u2019t fully embraced Lando Norris in the same way they embraced Lewis for example,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cLando is polarising in the UK. I know there\u2019s this idea of British bias, which I think I can see where that comes from for sure.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut the Brits, we are ultimately, I always joke, we\u2019re a very self-hating nation. And there\u2019s a lot of people, that we hold our athletes to really high standards.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd there\u2019s, I won\u2019t lie about it either, there\u2019s a class element to the UK and culture that doesn\u2019t exist everywhere else.<\/p>\n
\u201cLando is from an incredibly privileged background. I think a lot of people naturally hold that against him.\u201d<\/p>\n
Even so, Saunders said there were signs during the 2025 season that sentiment was beginning to shift, particularly at Silverstone.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn terms of last year, it did seem like that started to shift a bit,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n
\u201cSilverstone, you could tell the atmosphere around a British winner that wasn\u2019t Lewis was different.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019d seen Lewis win\u2026 it didn\u2019t feel being there like it was as seismic as some of Lewis\u2019s wins. But it felt different.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe fan base in the Lando Norris stand was a lot more diverse. Women. Younger people in there.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt doesn\u2019t mean it\u2019s better or worse. It just felt different.\u201d<\/p>\n
That sense of difference sits at the heart of Saunders\u2019 book, which he described as his fastest project to date and his third overall, following previous works on Daniel Ricciardo and Ferrari.<\/p>\n
For Saunders, who has followed Norris since his early days in Formula 1, the story ultimately reflected a broader evolution within the sport.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe said I did it my way, which I write about in the book,\u201d Saunders said.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd I was like, he\u2019s not just quoting Frank Sinatra here\u2026 but it was true. He did win it his way. And his way wasn\u2019t the tried and tested conventional way either.\u201d<\/p>\n
Published by Michael O\u2019Mara Books, Lando Norris: Road to World Champion is available now.<\/p>\n
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