Lando Norris has acknowledged that he believes he has "what it takes" to win the Formula One Drivers' Championship, following his battle with 2024 winner Max Verstappen this season.

Norris was ultimately unable to close the gap to the Dutchman, who won his fourth successive title in the 2024 season. But after finishing second, the British driver fancies himself going into 2025.

"I fancied it already this year, but it was just a little too late," he said.

“I definitely have had things to improve on and to look back on and try [to] correct and to improve. Nevertheless, I think the thing I’ve learned, and I’ve gained the most this year is confidence in myself.

“Sounds very simple, [but] I’ve just always been quite the opposite kind of guy, and I always find [that] I need to go out to prove it to myself before I want to start believing anything. This year, yeah, I made some mistakes and I didn’t give a good enough fight to Max, but it was a good effort, and the one thing I’ve learned from [it is that] I have what it takes.

“That’s not an over-confident saying, that’s… I know I made my mistakes, I know what I’m capable of doing, and I know if I can improve on these things it’s definitely possible, so I’m excited. As much as I want this season now to end, and I want to go have a holiday, I’m also really looking forward to next year.”

While Norris did not win the drivers' title in 2024, his points did help McLaren win the Constructors' Championship for the first time since 1998.

Regardless, the 25-year-old suggested that he learned more from his disappointments and difficult moments as he lost out to Verstappen than in the positive moments.

“Honestly, it's probably the harder moments which are the ones you learn the most [from], so it's kind of true what people say. But those harder times, my battles with Max, that kind of thing, certain other cases throughout the season.

“I've definitely stepped it up to a good level this season. I obviously lost out on a few things, and there were maybe three starts this year which lost me one or two positions at times. But they were positions quite often just to Max, or it was Budapest and one to Oscar [Piastri] and little things like that.

“But none of them, when I look back on them, made me feel like, ‘well, I've not got what it takes’. Those moments only came when it was directly against Max. And it's Max – going up against Max in any state is always going to be tricky, and no one has a nice time racing Max.

“I think Mexico was a bit of a turning point when it was proved that not everything he does is perfect. I think if we all go back to Austin and go back to Turn 12, the majority of – [or] almost everyone on the grid – as drivers and also externally, disagreed with the fact I got the penalty. We either both should not have got one or we both should have got one."