Lando Norris aims to mix aggressive racing with being a smart driver in order to beat Formula One rival Max Verstappen to this year's drivers' championship title. 

Norris enjoyed a breakthrough year with McLaren in 2024, leading the team, along with Oscar Piastri, to their first constructors' championship since 1998. 

But the Briton came up short to Red Bull's Verstappen in the drivers' standings, finishing 63 points behind the Dutchman who claimed his fourth consecutive world title. 

The pair enjoyed a series of wheel-to-wheel battles on the track last season, clashing in Austria, which was followed by controversial incidents in the United States and Mexico. 

Norris drove McLaren's new car, the MCL-39, at Silverstone on Thursday as they became the first team to unveil a 2025 challenger, and spoke about the upcoming season. 

"I need to get my elbows out and show I am not going to willingly give him positions, but I also have to be a smart driver - you have to be smart to go up against Max," Norris said.

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— McLaren (@McLarenF1) February 13, 2025

"I don't need to go out and prove anything to him. I don't need to take unnecessary risks and go down trying. I don't think you have to do anything special to beat Max," he added. 

"He's quick, aggressive and one of the best ever, but the easiest way is just being a bit quicker and staying ahead.

"You just have to be smart and that's the answer to it all, and think of the long game sometimes.

"There are things I definitely need to tighten up, but the main thing that's going to change this year is we need more points at the beginning and that will change the fight ahead."

Norris also stressed the importance of starting the new season strongly to avoid playing catch up to Verstappen, who won seven of the first 10 races last year. 

McLaren won one of those first 10 races, with Norris earning a first career F1 victory at the Miami Grand Prix, with McLaren following that up with 12 consecutive podium finishes.

"We are talking about going up against one of the hardest, attacking-defence guys you can ever go up against.

"Like we saw in Mexico, [he is prepared to] sacrifice himself for the overall outcome, and when that's the mentality of a driver.

"It is a very difficult one to ever come on top of when you are 50 points behind.

"So the main thing that's going to change this year is I just need more points at the beginning and, hopefully, it's the other way around.

"With how he drives, and the risks he takes, and the aggressiveness he has, there was almost no way I could come back from the deficit I had."

Norris added that in the upcoming season McLaren want to "start off on the right foot".

"That would change the championship fight - but still in the mentality of taking things one step at a time," he concluded. 

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— McLaren (@McLarenF1) February 13, 2025