After eating what felt like my own bodyweight in turkey, roast potatoes and an allotment’s worth of root vegetables, I settled into the sofa to ponder what lies ahead in 2025 after one of the most unpredictable seasons in decades, and have landed on my five bold predictions for the year ahead. Here goes…
1. Lando Norris will win the drivers’ world championship
Lando Norris did me a solid by meeting my prediction of a top-three finish in the drivers’ championship, so I’m staying on the Norris hype train and predicting he’ll go one better than his 2024 runner up spot and win the whole damn thing.
READ MORE > END OF YEAR REPORT: McLaren – A first constructors’ title in 26 years, but can a drivers’ championship follow next year?
Norris can be his own biggest rival at times, so hard is the 25-year-old on himself when things go awry, but he seemed to find a new confidence in himself in the closing stages of the last campaign that will be crucial this year.
The Briton stamped out the mistakes in qualifying to top the charts in terms of pole positions (jointly with Max Verstappen) with eight in 2024 – and he finally made it to the top step, with victory in Miami before adding triumphs in the Netherlands, Singapore and Abu Dhabi.
He was also crucial in McLaren fending off Ferrari for their first constructors’ championship since 1998, and he now has some serious momentum. I agree with his team radio message after he helped clinch that title with victory in Abu Dhabi when he said next year, it’ll be him that seals the individual crown too.
