McLaren will make ‘brave risks’ with their car for 2025 as they attempt to help Lando Norris finally topple Max Verstappen. The British star threatened to catch the Red Bull driver midway through the 2024 Drivers’ Championship but his form dipped towards the end of the season.

Norris eventually finished second behind Verstappen in the year’s leaderboard. The Dutchman wrapped up his fourth consecutive title with two races to go.

However, Norris and team-mate Oscar Piastri will be buoyed by a year in which their team made tremendous strides. The 25-year-old secured his first-ever F1 Grand Prix victory and managed a further three, including the final race in Abu Dhabi.

McLaren CEO Zak Brown has explained that Norris’ 2025 car will feature parts where the engineering team have taken a ‘brave risk’. “We're going into next year at full strength,” he told Autosport.

“I think we're in a different mindset now in terms of the confidence of the team and the amount of bravery that the team is prepared to take in the development in next year's car.

“The team is not [thinking]: 'Let's just tweak a little here and there. The car is pretty good.' We've got some stuff on next year's car that is like ‘brave risk’.

“I think you only get to the front if you try and beat everyone, as opposed to the mindset when we started this year which was like ‘let’s just be as good as them.' The mind shift is now: ‘let's beat everyone'."

McLaren won the Constructors’ Championship for the first time since 1998 and seem primed to challenge Verstappen and Red Bull next year. Red Bull themselves had a dip in performance and their star driver frequently aired complaints about the car.

Norris insists he is not scared of the four-time world champion heading into 2025.

"I don't think people are scared of Max at all," he said.

"Are people afraid of what probably he's capable of at times, from a speed perspective? Do you go into some sessions and go 'S***, Max is feeling good this weekend, he's been good at practice, he's going to be mega’? 100 per cent.

"Same as with football teams and any other sport. When people are in good form and they're performing well, you're a little bit afraid of what someone's capable of going out and doing from a performance point of view. No one's scared. It just puts you on the limit."