Lando Norris support emerges after brutal Eddie Jordan ‘d*cked around’ criticism

Brutally told by Eddie Jordan that he “hasn’t got” what it takes yet to be a “great World Champion”, Lando Norris is “improving” and could reach the F1 pinnacle, believes Dutch racer Michael Bleekemolen.

A continuation of the dominant ways for Max Verstappen and Red Bull early in F1 2024 indicated a fresh cruise to title glory, but the rise of McLaren and Lando Norris complicated Verstappen’s path to his fourth successive title. That was until Brazil.

Can Lando Norris become a World Champion? ‘Yes, that could happen’

Verstappen started down in P17 in Brazil and Norris from pole, setting the stage for a potential huge swing in momentum in the title fight, but Verstappen would deliver an iconic drive to victory, while Norris finished P6, not helped by an error at Turn 1 on the restart.

With Verstappen stretching his Championship lead to 62 points with three rounds to go, that effectively ended Norris’ title hopes, and speaking on the Formula For Success podcast, ex-F1 team boss Eddie Jordan offered a brutally honest take.

“Lando hasn’t quite got there yet,” he said. “He hasn’t got there on the start, he hasn’t got there on the pole position run to the corner.

“He has the speed, beyond any doubt. He’s got the speed. But there’s nothing in me that tells me that I’ve seen in Lando, something that I saw what Max could do on Sunday. Nothing. I’m sorry, it’s just not there.

“So Lando has to look at himself long and hard this winter into the mirror and say to himself: ‘If I’m going to be a great World Champion, I have a lot to learn here, and I need to start replaying those videos about what it really is like to be hard, tough and victorious.’ And I’m sorry, at this moment in time, he hasn’t got it.

After 13-time F1 race winner David Coulthard responded with: “My God, Eddie, you are a hard, hard man, the Irishman added: “It’s a fact. He hasn’t translated those into race wins.

“He d*cked around on the podium. He’s d*cked around on the start line. Honestly, how many races should he have won this year?”

As for Bleekemolen’s take, while for him there remains a question mark over whether Norris “has grown so much this year, or if he has won simply because the car has become so much better”, he believes the Brit overall is on the right path.

“He is of course learning, he is of course still learning,” Bleekemolen continued when speaking to RN365. “You have to get it all right in your head and Norris is improving. He will naturally make fewer mistakes and get better.

“You often see that with people like this, it takes time and then it will all work out.”

But, can Norris reach the F1 mountaintop and become World Champion?

“Yes, that could just happen,” Bleekemolen believes. “Depends of course on the situation and where he is then, but I think so.”

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However, whether it will happen, Bleekemolen points out, could depend on the regulatory reset to come.

F1 2025 will mark the final year for the current ruleset, with new chassis and power unit regulations coming into effect from the following year.

“For 2026, it’s still very difficult to estimate,” said Bleekemolen. “Everything goes back into the mixer, we get all new regulations and you just have the chance that a car jumps out by a second. So that’s not predictable for anyone.”

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