Christian Horner has sung his praises about Lando Norris, comparing him to fellow one-time world champion, Jenson Button.

Norris beat Max Verstappen to the 2025 title by just two points. Horner was sacked by Red Bull midway through the season, and it was only after he left that the Dutchman started to challenge the McLarens.

But despite winning six of the last 10 races, Verstappen could not rein in Norris for his fifth world championship. McLaren dominated the 2025 season with 14 wins, but their fortunes have not been as good in 2026.

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In 2026, the MCL40 has proved to be the fourth-fastest car behind Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull. Norris won back-to-back races in Budapest and Zandvoort, but since then, McLaren have been questioning the car’s potential.

The team have regressed in pace over the last few races, with Norris scoring McLaren’s only podium in the last five races in Madrid.

The drivers have not helped themselves either. Norris almost took out Piastri in Malaysia, before he did collide with him in Singapore. Zak Brown and Andrea Stella were furious as McLaren lost valuable points.

The defending F1 champion is sixth in the standings, 139 points behind championship leader Kimi Antonelli. Despite his title hopes being non-existent, Piastri claims Norris has outperformed McLaren’s pace.

Horner has also noticed ‘super’ qualities from his former rival. Speaking on Talksport, he is reminded of 2009 F1 champion Button with how he makes it ‘easy’ to drive the car.

The ex-Red Bull team principal said: “Lando, again, super driver, very naturally fast driver. He’s got a very fluid driving style. It makes it look easy.

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“He’s sort of a little Jenson Button-esque, in the way that he drives a car. And again, it will depend on him having the tools to deliver in the way that he did last year.”

Interestingly, Mercedes chief Andrew Shovlin has likened Norris to Button with how good he is at looking after the rear tyres in overheating conditions.

Button has been impressed by Norris’ attitude in the wake of the crash with Piastri in Singapore. The former McLaren man loved how he took responsibility for the accident, but Norris will need to put that aside to keep Red Bull behind – they are just seven points back.