McLaren 2025 car: Lando Norris says he needs to be smart to beat Max Verstappen

Lando Norris says he needs to get his “elbows out” but also be “smart” in his battles with rival Max Verstappen on track this year.

Norris drove McLaren’s new car, the MCL-39, at Silverstone on Thursday as they became the first team to unveil a 2025 challenger.

Norris said: “I need to get my elbows out and show I am not going to willingly give him positions but I also have to be a smart driver – you have to be smart to go up against Max.”

The Briton had a series of wheel-to-wheel battles with Verstappen last year, and became progressively more effective in them as the season developed.

They crashed together in Austria in June, Norris was penalised in the United States in October, and then drew Verstappen into driving that earned the Dutchman two 10-second penalties in the following race in Mexico.

Norris said: “I don’t need to go out and prove anything to him. I don’t need to take unnecessary risk and go down trying. I don’t think you have to do anything special to beat Max.

“He’s quick, aggressive and one of the best ever, but the easiest way is just being a bit quicker and staying ahead. You just have to be smart and that’s the answer to it all, and think of the long game sometimes.

“There are things I definitely need to tighten up but the main thing that’s going to change this year is we need more points at the beginning and that will change the fight ahead.”

Norris was 52 points behind Verstappen after the Red Bull driver dominated the start of last year, and ended the season 63 points adrift as the Red Bull driver took his fourth consecutive drivers’ championship.

Norris said: “We are talking about going up against one of the hardest, attacking-defence guys you can ever go up against. Like we saw in Mexico, [he is prepared to] sacrifice himself for the overall outcome, and when that’s the mentality of a driver it is a very difficult one to ever come on top of when you are 50 points behind.

“So the main thing that’s going to change this year is I just need more points at the beginning and hopefully it’s the other way around.

“With how he drives, and the risks he takes, and the aggressiveness he has, there was almost no way I could come back from the deficit I had.”

Norris added that in the upcoming season McLaren want to “start off on the right foot”.

“That would change the championship fight – but still in the mentality of taking things one step at a time,” he said.

Norris and team-mate Oscar Piastri both drove the new car at a cold and damp Silverstone. The car was painted in a camouflage paint scheme – the official livery will be revealed at F1’s season launch event at the O2 in London on 18 February.

Norris said that although conditions meant it was too early for conclusions, the car felt “normal”.

He added: “Let’s say that’s the first good step, because the team have been quite innovative with some of the designs.”

Team principal Andrea Stella said McLaren had “tried to raise the bar in many areas, including the fundamental layout”.