Lewis Hamilton's former adversary picks Lando Norris as the favorite to win the 2025 F1 championship

Former F1 world champion Nico Rosberg has picked Lando Norris as his favorite to win the 2025 World Drivers' Championship. The German also touted McLaren to defend its constructors' title in the upcoming season.

Lewis Hamilton's former teammate and friend-turned-rival, Rosberg, seems to agree with all the pre-season hype that has led to Norris being touted as the favorite to win the title in 2025. This has been a common prediction among experts and fans amid McLaren's promising Bahrain test.

Another reason for this belief is the rumors that suggest Red Bull may not be able to provide Max Verstappen with a car good enough to defend his title.

Rosberg will be continuing his stint as a pundit and commentator for Sky Sports, for whom he appears sporadically throughout the season. On Saturday, the Sky Sports F1 broadcasters shared their predictions for the 2025 season via their X account, wherein the 2016 world champion gave his opinion as well.

"From Drivers Champion to rookie of the year, our pundits give you their BOLD 2025 season predictions 🔮"

Nico Rosberg didn't just pick Lando Norris to be the world champion, but even doubled down on his expectations from McLaren, as he also picked the team from Woking to claim the constructors' title.

Norris is definitely heading into the 2025 season as majority of the people's favorite to claim his first drivers' championship. It looked as though the Briton could get it done during the final stretch of last season as well, but Max Verstappen's historic drive in Sao Paulo meant Norris was all but out of the running with three races to go.

Verstappen wrapped up the title in the subsequent race on the streets of Las Vegas to claim his fourth title in a row. But Norris managed to win the final race of 2024 in Abu Dhabi, which was necessary in the team's constructors' fight against Ferrari.

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'Crofty' picks Lando Norris to come out on top amid a tough 2025 title fight

Lando Norris in the paddock during F1 Testing in Bahrain - Day 3 - Source: Getty

Sky Sports F1 lead commentator David Croft has touted Lando Norris to win the 2025 drivers' championship as well. But the Briton also mentioned that the British driver will get it done with a very narrow margin.

Known to F1 fans as 'Crofty', Croft has been the voice of the sport for many years. For the same Sky Sports F1 predictions video, he shared that he expects to see a tough title fight in 2025 but believes that Lando Norris will eventually come out on top this time around.

"Lando, but only just. I think it's going to be a terrific battle," Crofty predicted.

Even though McLaren is most people's favorites heading into 2025, not many fans expect Norris or the Papaya team to run away with either of the championships. Ferrari, Red Bull and Mercedes could also be equally competitive in what is all set to be one of the closest F1 seasons in recent years.