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Johnny Herbert's slip of the tongue proves F1 legend right about McLaren and Lando Norris

Football January 31, 2025 10:39 PM

A comment made by has proven a former champion right about the significance of McLaren's constructors' title success.

ended a long wait for team's title glory when they saw off the challenge of last year. They became constructors' champions for the first time since 1998, sealed by a victory in the final race of the season in Abu Dhabi.

It helped to soften the blow of the Brit missing out on the drivers' crown. Norris made work for it but in the end it was the Dutchman who secured his fourth-straight title by 63 points.

Speaking to Mirror Sport, 1997 champion and said: "I know they won the constructors' championship and it's more money in the bank, but nobody cares.

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"People only relate to the driver and the team that won with that driver. Aside from the season just gone, every time Max was champion, also won the constructors' championship but this year they didn't and nobody cares. They care about Max winning with Red Bull."

And his point of view has been backed up by another former F1 driver in Herbert. Asked for his prediction ahead of the upcoming 2025 season, the Brit referred only to Verstappen and his team as having "won the championship" in the previous campaign as he assessed McLaren's chances.

"Do I expect a particular team to start off strong like Red Bull and Max Verstappen did last year? Probably not," Herbert told . "I would expect it to be McLaren, but I do remember the beginning of last year where they ended the year before quite strong, but they didn't quite carry it through and Red Bull got the jump on them.

"Which is why Max and Red Bull won the championship eventually, because they started very, very strong even with a weak sort of middle of the season. It didn't matter though because they already gained a big point advantage and then McLaren were chasing after that."

Despite missing out on the drivers' title, Norris insists he is "proud" of his performances in 2024 and feels he is now ready to get the job done this term. He said: "I've made my mistakes and, at the same time, I've learned a lot from those mistakes.

"I believe I'm a good enough driver and I've got everything it takes. I'm excited to go into 2025 knowing I've learned a lot, I've improved a lot and I'm ready to bring the fight to everyone."