Lando Norris Predicts Chaos In 2025 With Winners Beyond The Big Four

Lando Norris is calling it: 2025 could see Grand Prix wins bleed past the usual suspects—McLaren, Ferrari, Red Bull, and Mercedes. Speaking before the F1 75 Live spectacle at The O2 arena, the McLaren ace said the field’s tightening grip, fueled by unchanged rules, might crack the top four’s lock on victory lane. After Red Bull’s 2022-23 reign, last year’s seven winners from those elite teams—Norris, Oscar Piastri, Charles Leclerc, Carlos Sainz, Max Verstappen, Lewis Hamilton, and George Russell—hinted at a shift. Now, Norris sees the rest of the grid closing in.

“I think it’s everyone’s expectation from within Formula 1,” Norris said, laying out the stakes. “Every year the rules don’t change, every time the regulations don’t change, it gets closer and closer – that’s just the way it’s always worked.” He’s got history on his side—2024’s late surge saw the gap shrink. “It already got pretty close at the end of last year, and you already started to see the middle pack… well, most of the grid apart from the top four teams… the six other teams, you already started to see them catching up and getting closer and closer,” he added. Think Haas nabbing points or Alpine sniffing the podium in Brazil. That’s the vibe.

Norris doubled down: “I probably only expect that to be even more the case over the winter and probably into this season. I think you’re probably going to have this season some winners that aren’t McLaren, Ferrari, Mercedes or Red Bull, which I think is good for F1 and is good for the fans.” He’s not just hyping it—he’s jazzed. “I’m looking forward to it, because I think it’s not going to be just a fight of the usual guys,” he said. “It’s going to be a bit different this year… maybe not at the very beginning, but certainly through the season, we’ll see it shake up a little bit more.” An upset in Baku? A stunner in Singapore? Norris smells blood.

Oscar Piastri’s on the same wavelength. “If you look at the back end of last season, with how many different winners from different teams there were, it’s all pointing toward a very tight season,” he said. The Aussie, who snagged his first win in Hungary last year, knows the drill. “Going from track to track, you’re not going to know… pretty much all of last year, we thought we would be in the mix for a win, but we didn’t really know who the main competitor was going to be, and it changed every weekend,” he noted. “I’m expecting more of the same.” One week it’s Ferrari in Monza, the next it’s Red Bull in Austin—Piastri’s bracing for a wild ride.

McLaren’s riding high after clinching the 2024 Teams’ Championship, their first since ’98, with Norris and Piastri banking six wins between them. Verstappen, gunning for a fifth straight drivers’ crown, kept Red Bull in the hunt, but the gap’s razor-thin—McLaren’s 669 points edged Red Bull’s 645. Norris sees the chasing pack—Alpine, Aston Martin, maybe even Williams—ready to pounce as upgrades hit over the season. Last year’s midfield creep (Haas outscored Sauber 31-4) backs his hunch.

For fans, it’s a dream script. For McLaren, it’s time to deliver a Driver’s Championship title with Norris and Piastri, 25 and 23, bringing youth and hunger. Testing kicks off soon in Bahrain, then Melbourne’s lights go green March 14-16. Norris isn’t wrong: this could get messy, and he’s here for it.