Eddie Jordan believes Lando Norris ‘has a lot to learn’ if he wants to win a Formula 1 world title in a brutally honest assessment of the McLaren driver.
Jordan was reacting to Norris’ performance at the 2024 Sao Paulo Grand Prix, where after starting from pole position, he fell down the order to finish in sixth place.
His title rival, Max Verstappen, produced a champion’s drive to win the race from 17th place on the grid in the tricky conditions at the Interlagos circuit.
The victory extended Verstappen’s lead in the standings to 62 points as Norris missed out on a perfect opportunity to catch up towards the Red Bull driver.
Jordan, former F1 Team Principal of Jordan Grand Prix, gave his verdict on Norris’ ability to fight for the F1 world championship after speaking on the Formula For Success Podcast.
“Lando hasn’t quite got there yet,” he said.
“He hasn’t got there on the start, he hasn’t got there on the pole position run to the corner.
“He has the speed, beyond any doubt but there’s nothing in me that tells me that I’ve seen in Lando, something that I saw what Max could do on Sunday.
“Nothing, I’m sorry, it’s just not there.”
‘He’s d*cked around on the start line’ says Jordan
Norris took his maiden victory this season at the Miami Grand Prix after a Safety Car helped him to beat Verstappen in the early part of the year.
The British driver went on to take more recent victories at the Dutch Grand Prix and the Singapore Grand Prix in dominant fashion – both times being over 20 seconds ahead of Verstappen.
However, the 24-year-old has not been able to consistently take points off the Dutchman to give himself a fighting chance in this year’s title battle.
Jordan went on to explain that: “Lando has to look at himself long and hard this winter into the mirror and say to himself: ‘If I’m going to be a great World Champion, I have a lot to learn here, and I need to start replaying those videos about what it really is like to be hard, tough and victorious.’
“And I’m sorry, at this moment in time, he hasn’t got it.”
In response to his damning verdict, David Coulthard said: “My God, Eddie, you are a hard, hard man,” as Jordan snapped back with: “It’s a fact, he hasn’t translated those into race wins.
“He d*cked around on the podium, he’s d*cked around on the start line.
“Honestly, how many races should he have won this year?”
Coulthard went on to say that he believed Norris will go on to become F1 world champion in the future to which Jordan questioned whether they’ll both be alive to see it.
READ MORE: Max Verstappen ‘expected to lose points’ to Lando Norris in Brazil
Discussion about this post