2025 Formula 1 champion Lando Norris admitted that private messages and personal meetings with legends such as Lewis Hamilton, Sebastian Vettel and four-time MotoGP champion Casey Stoner played an important role in the championship fight.

Norris has spoken about the support he has received ahead of the decisive stages of the season.

“I have received so many powerful words of encouragement, messages and speeches from incredible people who are world champions in a variety of sports, from Lewis, Seb and many more.

Many people don’t know that I communicate with Seb. Some, especially Casey Stoner, wrote me a quick message just when I needed it most: “Think about this, believe in yourself, do this, do that.” That really helped me get back on track.”

Norris’ title chances were in serious jeopardy following the recent rise of Red Bull’s Max Verstappen. However, McLaren’s successful strategy in Abu Dhabi on the final stage of the season allowed the Briton to finish third at the Yas Marina Circuit and formalize the championship title.

An important component of success was the pilot’s psychological resilience. Norris made mistakes throughout the 2025 season that could have cost him the title, but he managed to withstand the pressure while his teammate Oscar Piastri succumbed to the pressure at key moments of the season.

Norris concluded: “When you win the championship by just two points, I’m sure that the faith and support of the people around me brought me these two points. That’s why I’m grateful to everyone, because sometimes you only need two points to win the championship.”

McLaren pilot Oscar Piastri said that he was approaching the 2026 season with double motivation after winning his first Formula 1 championship and losing to his teammate Lando Norris.

While the Australian pilot completed the unsuccessful second half of the season in third place in the general classification, 13 points behind Norris, he gained a 34-point advantage after the Dutch Grand Prix in Zandvoort.

After the Dutch stage, it appeared that the situation was completely under Piastri’s control. But a crash in Azerbaijan, as well as a series of poor performances in Austin, Mexico City and Brazil, slowly destroyed his title ambitions.

As a result, although the Australian player regained the pace he showed at the beginning of the championship at the end of the season, he did not have enough distance to close the gap in the final stages in Qatar and Abu Dhabi.

While McLaren attributes Piastri’s difficulties primarily to tracks with low grip, at other tracks the driver has traditionally looked much stronger.

Despite the disappointment of missing out on the title, Piastri gained valuable experience against Norris and Max Verstappen, giving him confidence ahead of attacking the title again in 2026.

“I’m just hungry and ready for it. Of course, I’m waiting for a few weeks to get some rest and not think about racing.”

However, many new things await us when we return to work; significant changes to cars and engines.

You never know how you’re going to start the season with such a big update to the rules, but I trust the people around me.

“Personally, he has a lot of confidence in me this season; I’m ready to use this experience in 2026, regardless of the car.”