‘I did it my way’: Norris proud of way he won F1 title

Newly-crowned Formula One world champion Lando Norris said Sunday he was proud to have won his first world title in his own way.

“That’s one of the things that makes me most proud,” said the 26-year-old Briton.

“I feel like I have just managed to win it the way I wanted to win it, which was not by being someone I’m not,” the McLaren driver said.

“Not trying to be as aggressive as Max (Verstappen) or as forceful as other champions might have been in the past, I’m happy. I just won it my way—by being a fair driver, by trying to be an honest driver.

“At times, could I have been more aggressive and got off the brakes and had a few people over? I certainly could have done, and maybe I need to do that in the future, but is that me? No. Is that the way I want to go racing? Is that me? It’s not.”

Norris claimed his maiden drivers’ championship to complete McLaren’s first title double since 1998 with a perfectly-judged drive to finish third behind Red Bull’s winner Max Verstappen and team-mate Oscar Piastri.

A tearful Norris won the title by two points ahead of Verstappen, who relinquished his crown after four consecutive years, in a tense and emotional season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix dominated by strategy and tactics.

The fresh-faced Briton thanked his team, family and friends for their support in his success in the self-effacing style that has made him one of Formula One’s most popular drivers.

“I feel proud but not because I’m gonna wake up tomorrow and go, ‘I beat everyone’,” he said.

“I’m not proud because I get to just say I’m a world champion. I’m proud because I feel like I made a lot of other people happy.”