Photo: © IMAGO

McLaren driver Lando Norris has revealed that former Red Bull driver Sebastian Vettel has been helping him in his title battle with current Red Bull star Max Verstappen and team-mate Oscar Piastri.

Vettel won four world championships with Red Bull between 2010-2013, before heading off to Ferrari in an unsuccessful attempt to claim a fifth title.

Verstappen has tied Vettel’s record of achieving four titles with Red Bull, but is facing stiff competition from Norris and Piastri as he attempts to win a record-equalling fifth consecutive drivers’ championship title.

Piastri currently sits atop the standings after four wins from his first six races, and is 16 points ahead of team-mate Norris and 32 ahead of Verstappen, in what looks to be a three-way championship battle.

A plethora of Norris errors have meant that the Brit has not won a race since the first event of the season in Australia, and his downbeat attitude in interviews has led to criticism from former stars.

However, Vettel has been praising Norris for his open and honest assessments, and the McLaren star has revealed that he’s been receiving messages from the German F1 legend.

“It’s my way of doing things. Maybe it’s not a perfect way,” Norris told media at the Miami Grand Prix.

“But it’s how I’ve grown up. It’s how I feel I’ve always learned from my mistakes in the best ways.

“I’m just not quick enough, maybe I shouldn’t share as many things as I do, I’m just honest. You ask me a question, and I’m honest in my answer.

“Seb often texts me about these kinds of things. Being a racing driver is not just about driving the car, there’s many other factors to it, and over the last few months, and then the last year, I’ve learned more about the off-track stuff, on how to improve it, but I’m always open for opportunities to improve even more.”

Can Norris challenge for the championship?

25-year-old Norris was Verstappen’s nearest challenger in 2024, winning four races but eventually falling short of the Dutchman.

Norris was criticised then, having appeared to have a faster car than Verstappen for much of the second half of the season, but still losing out by 63 points.

Now the Brit has fallen behind his team-mate in 2025, in a season in which McLaren certainly have the dominant car.

A 10th-place qualifying result at the Saudi Arabian GP after a crash severely hampered Norris’ chances of challenging for the race win, while missing out at the first corner of the Miami GP dropped him down to sixth place, allowing Piastri to comfortably take the victory.

Despite a five-race win drought, however, Norris is still within touching distance of the Australian racer heading into the European section of the F1 calendar.