Jenson Button admits he was dead wrong about Lando Norris’ ‘downfall’ in Formula 1

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Lando Norris won the Formula 1 title in December, becoming Britain’s first new Formula 1 world champion since Jenson Button in 2009.

Norris is the 11th British world champion overall and the third to lift the trophy in McLaren colours after James Hunt and Lewis Hamilton.

It was clear from the outset that Norris would be a star in F1, but some questioned whether he had the edge required to become truly great.

Indeed, Norris scored 15 podiums before winning his first race, which was an F1 record. He entered a season with the fastest car for the first time in 2025, but a string of errors in the first 10 races raised doubts over his title prospects.

Jenson Button thought Lando Norris’ openness would be his undoing

Norris missed out on the top five in three of 2025’s first six qualifying sessions, a spell that included a crash during Q3 in Saudi Arabia. This left him out of position and trying to make up lost ground in the races.

The lowest moment of all came in Canada, when he tagged the back of teammate Oscar Piastri’s car in a botched overtake. Piastri escaped unscathed but Norris found the barriers.

Where does Norris rank?

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One theory was that Norris was too emotional, and insufficiently ruthless, to prevail in a title fight. Button had this concern, but he was proved wrong.

Button told BBC Radio Somerset: “I have to say, Lando wears his heart on his sleeve, and I thought that would be his downfall.

“His talent is unquestionable. His speed is just insane. I remember the first test he did in Hungary in the McLaren. Immediately, he was super quick.”

What the ‘entirety’ of the F1 paddock now says about Lando Norris

Button certainly wasn’t the only one in the paddock who feared for Norris. Piastri initially appeared far more ‘calm and collected’.

But in the decisive period of the season, it was Norris who hit form as Piastri floundered. The Englishman delivered dominant victories in Mexico and Brazil as his increasingly incident-prone teammate let a 34-point lead slip.

Now, the narrative about Norris in the paddock has changed, and he is being praised for ‘owning his emotions’.

BBC F1 commentator Harry Benjamin said: “Racing so emotionally on and off the track has opened him up to a lot of scrutiny in the paddock, not only when he’s made a mistake, but generally.

“Particularly this year, so much of the talking points were comparing him to his younger, less experienced teammate, Oscar Piastri, who is so cool, calm and collected. At one point, six races into the 2025 season, Oscar Piastri was champion elect because Lando Norris just didn’t seem to have what it took.

“But what has impressed the entirety of the paddock so much is that he has undergone this massive transformation in owning his emotions, in owning that ‘yes I made a mistake, but I’ll come back and be quicker’, and then following up on that. That’s allowed him to unlock another level.”