Carlos Sainz hopes title win does not go to atypical champion Norris’s head

Lando Norris proved that it is possible to become World Champion as the “good guy”, by being “himself”, so says his former McLaren teammate Carlos Sainz.

Furthermore, Sainz believes that Norris is faster than “what people give him credit for”, the Spaniard having seen Norris “develop a lot of his skills” to become the World Champion package that he is today, all while staying true to himself. Sainz hopes that this success will not change Norris as a person going forward.

Lando Norris: The ‘good guy’ World Champion

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Norris is not one to often engage in wheel-to-wheel shenanigans or tactics, a true-to-himself approach which nestled into McLaren’s overall commitment to creating a level playing field for Norris and Oscar Piastri to battle for the 2025 Drivers’ Championship.

With Max Verstappen mounting a remarkable counter attack in his pursuit of a fifth title, Norris and McLaren were questioned, but it was Norris who clinched the title, by two points from Verstappen, cementing his place in the Formula 1 history books as World Champion.

Norris is a driver who Sainz – the Brit’s first F1 teammate – has seen develop from exciting rookie to F1’s top dog.

Norris, Sainz points out, made it there in his way, not by becoming someone he is not.

“Obviously very happy for him as a driver, because I think he’s always been an extremely quick driver. Quicker, I think, than what people give him credit for, and extremely talented,” Sainz said of Norris via Sky F1.

“Since I worked with him in McLaren the first years, I saw a guy that had the speed to be multiple World Champion, if it was purely down to speed. I think along the way, he’s developed a lot of his skills, and now he’s a World Champion.

“But more more than anything, happy for him as a person, because I think he’s a driver that doesn’t follow the typical stereotype of World Champion.

“I think he’s always stayed very true to himself, very honest, very open about his own struggles, and he’s just proven to everyone that you can also be World Champion, being that good guy, or that open, nice guy, that you don’t need to be ruthless or, badass, you know, to show to everyone that you can be World Champion.

“So happy for him. I hope he stays the same. I hope it doesn’t get in his head, this World Championship now, and he keeps winning himself, or if anything, he relaxes even more, and now he can enjoy Formula 1 even more.”

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Put to him that he will ‘keep him in check’, Sainz quipped: “I will definitely be in his ear on those golf rounds if I see he’s getting a bit show off, you know.

“But no, I think he must have suffered a bit this year with all the social media pressure, journalism pressure from criticising him when he was struggling at the first half, now when Max was getting close.

“It’s never easy to be World Champion with Max breathing down your neck, but he’s kept it more or less under control, and he’s won it.”

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