Lewis Hamilton, Max Verstappen and Lando Norris could all compete for the 2025 F1 title (Image: GETTY)
fans believe is right – he WOULD have won the 2024 Drivers’ Championship in ‘ car. Norris had the faster machine for much of the season but was unable to claw back the Dutchman after he built a commanding early lead.
Verstappen sealed his fourth crown in Las Vegas but it was nowhere near as routine for the driver as it was last year. After winning seven of the first 10 races, the 25-year-old then went 10 races without a victory until Brazil.
Norris had cut Verstappen’s championship advantage to 42 points but the reigning champion produced a historic drive to win from P17 in Sao Paulo.
After winning a fourth successive title with two races to spare, Verstappen teased Norris’ boss at , , on Sky Sports: “Like you said, before I could only win it in the fastest car. This year has been a little bit different!”
Verstappen later added: “If people are critical and think that I can only win in the best car, then I prove the opposite. Would I have become champion in the ? Yes! And much earlier too.”
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Norris rebuffed his friend’s suggestions, however, and said: “Of course, I completely disagree, as I would. He’s good. But he’s not true. If there was no , yeah, even I could have won if there was no and Max was not in a , I would have won the championship!
“I don’t believe it. I like his confidence. I can say whatever. I can say ‘I was world champion, I can do this or that’. But, not possible.”
Yet 67 per cent of nearly 3,000 voters in an Express Sport poll say that Verstappen would have indeed chased down Norris were he in the and the Brit in the .
Yet does not get the same love. We also asked if the driver would have won this year’s title had he been at the wheel of the , which has been the pace-setting car for the bulk of 2024.
However, despite his joint-record seven world titles, 60 per cent voted that Hamilton would not have beaten Verstappen to the crown. The -bound veteran last has been out of the championship fight since the controversial conclusion to the 2021 campaign in Abu Dhabi.
Max Verstappen claimed he’d have won the title in Lando Norris’ McLaren (Image: GETTY)
And speaking after a P2 finish in Las Vegas, Hamilton showed he holds no grudge towards the man: “A big congratulations to Max for winning the championship with several races to go.”
Looking ahead to 2025, exactly 47 per cent of Express Sport readers who responded to our poll expect Verstappen to make it an unprecedented five titles in a row next season.
Meanwhile, 20 per cent are backing Hamilton to end ‘s 18-year wait for a Drivers’ Championship in his maiden season with the Scuderia. Only six per cent expect his team-mate Charles Leclerc to reign supreme.
Approximately 17 per cent are backing Norris, with four per cent of the voters in support of his sidekick Oscar Piastri and just less tipping to lead to glory in the wake of Hamilton’s departure.
As with 2024, the 2025 season will consist of the same 24 Grands Prix. The season will however start in Australia on March 16, having this year begun in Bahrain before heading to Melbourne in round three.