Lando Norris jokes it's "downhill from here" after 2025 as he points to "pivotal moment"

Lando Norris joked that it is all downhill from here after clinching his first Formula 1 drivers' championship title in 2025.

The fight for the championship went down to the wire at the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. A third-place finish was enough for Norris to win the championship with two points over Red Bull's Max Verstappen, who finished second in the standings, while Oscar Piastri finished third.

In addition to winning his first championship, Norris also won his first home grand prix at Silverstone and the Monaco Grand Prix in the same year. During a post-season interview with BBC Sport, Norris joked that having achieved all of these goals in one year means it is "downhill from here".

"They're really the best runs," Norris said of his British Grand Prix, Monaco Grand Prix and championship wins. "Just downhill from here," he added with a smile.

"I would have loved to make my life a bit easier, winning earlier next time. But it's always more exciting when it goes down to the final race, final few laps. It's more exciting for everyone, for you guys, most of all.

"But I won ones that people have dreamt of winning. They are some of the most incredible ones. The lap I did in Monaco in quali was the only other time probably in the last 10 years that I cried a little bit over something. Because there I proved myself wrong. It was one moment this season that I proved myself wrong because I had that bad run of results, I just couldn't perform in qualifying.

Lando Norris, McLaren

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"Qualifying has always been my strong suit. So, when I went to the hardest track to do a qualifying lap in, I turned off my delta for the first time that weekend so I couldn't see if I was on a better lap, worse lap, whatever it was, it's not been my best track in the past.

"For me to then go there and put that lap I put in at the end of qualifying was one of the best moments of my career in a way because it was the time I almost doubted myself the most ever. But that one lap, 1 minute 9 seconds, was all it needed for me to flip everything and turn that thought of I just don't know if I got this to, oh, I can definitely do this.

"And that was a pivotal moment for me."