Will Lando Norris deserve the championship if he wins the 2024 F1 title?

If we look at the F1 fandom, Lando Norris has become one of the most divisive figures in the sport. The young McLaren driver has turned out to be a title contender, and with him yet to be a finished product and still trying to compete against Max Verstappen has led to a very interesting discourse.

On one side, after the race in Monza, there's been a lobby imploring McLaren to employ team orders for Lando Norris and maximize the possibility of the driver winning the title. On the other hand, there is an entirely different segment of fans that have already written off Norris and claimed that even if he does win the title, he doesn't deserve it.

This has led to a very interesting discussion in the fandom with one very crucial question that needs to be answered. If Lando Norris does win the 2024 F1 title, will he deserve it?

Now to answer this question is something that's not as simplistic as just looking at the driver's standings and jumping to conclusions. It's more than that. It involves an understanding of what it takes to become a world champion in F1.

If one has to become a world champion in Formula 1, there are certain boxes that you have to tick.

You should perform at a very high level

When we talk about F1 drivers who are world champions, often these are drivers who have performed at a very high level. These are the drivers that have the ability to extract whatever they can from the car beneath them. Not only that, the drivers have the ability to continue to be the benchmark at multiple races across the season.

You should beat your teammate

The first driver that you have to beat in F1 is your teammate. That has always been the motto in the sport, and that is never going to change. If you're able to beat your teammate and do it convincingly, then you have the team backing you up in your bid for the title.

You should be a part of the team with the best car

Finally, and arguably something that's more important than anything else, is the car you drive and the team you're associated with. A quote by Valtteri Bottas recently rings true when he says that a driver has only 10% impact on the result and the rest of it is the car. You need the best car with the best operations unit in place, and when that is not the case, things could get a bit compromised.

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The Lando Norris vs Max Verstappen debate

This is the interesting bit when we look at the Max Verstappen vs Lando Norris debate this season. Even in our overall driver rating (click here for the overall ranking), we have Verstappen ahead of Norris, but it is safe to say that both of these drivers are right at the top of the pecking order in terms of performance. Hence, when it comes to performing at a high level, both of these drivers are doing it very well, with Verstappen possibly being better at this compared to his McLaren contemporary.

The second bit is the comparison against teammates, and for Max Verstappen, this is not even an argument. He's been dominant against his teammates since 2018. Lando Norris, on the other hand, has a much tougher teammate in Oscar Piastri and the battle is much closer. Having said that, the British driver is still ahead by 44 points at this stage, which is more than a decent margin over a teammate.

It is the final point, however, where things get interesting. Max Verstappen, on the one hand, has dominated F1 in the last few years with Red Bull. This year, however, after a brilliant start to the season, the car is just not good enough to win every weekend. In the last few races, it hasn't been good enough to even fight for the podium.

Lando Norris, on the other hand, has never been part of a title-contending team or had a car capable of winning the title.

In 2024, however, he has that opportunity. Most importantly, one has to credit the driver for being with McLaren because the door to Red Bull has always been open for him.

It was Norris who stuck with McLaren all these years even when the situation got worse. Today, he finds himself in a situation where he has the best car underneath him.

Does Lando Norris deserve the title?

This question can be answered in a very simple manner. In F1, there have been instances when the best drivers have not won the title. However, there are very rare cases where a driver with the best car has not been victorious.

If Max Verstappen wins the title this season, there's no doubt he deserves it more than anybody else. However, even if Lando Norris wins, he's deserved it as well. He's performed at a very high level, he's gotten the better of his teammate, and he's backed McLaren until the team gets him a title-contending car.

While there will always be detractors and critiques, Lando Norris has put himself in a position to fight for a world title, and if he does cross the line first, he'll deserve it.