But there were no bold statements on race day as he struggled to take a point and his team mate Charles Leclerc laboured to an eighth-place finish.
'Tomorrow's going to be a challenge, I've never driven this car in the rain.'
Lewis Hamilton celebrated his first Formula One win for Ferrari after leading a Chinese Grand Prix sprint from start to finish in only his second race for the Italian team on Saturday.
Carlos Sainz completed a double race distance for previously struggling Williams and pushed his Ferrari successor Lewis Hamilton off the top of the testing
Seven-times Formula One champion Lewis Hamilton said he was excited for 2025 and ready to embrace change at Ferrari as he updated his LinkedIn profile with the hashtag 'newjob'.
Lewis Hamilton raced one last time for Mercedes on Sunday, Formula One's most successful driver and team partnership ending in a cloud of tyre smoke
'We never forget. We continue our work ... We work to build an equal world for George, for his children, and for all the other victims of racism.'
Red Bull's Max Verstappen won the Las Vegas Grand Prix on Saturday but McLaren's Lando Norris had one hand on the Formula One title after finishing second and stretching his lead over teammate Oscar Piastri to 30 points.
Lewis Hamilton smashed the Shanghai circuit lap record on his way to a stunning first sprint race pole for Ferrari in China on Friday.
Four-times World champion Max Verstappen was given an aerodynamic tow by teammate Yuki Tsunoda to go top on his first flying lap.
Norris had shown his pace in final practice when he became the third different driver to top the timesheets in the three sessions, punching out an impressive lap 0.345 faster than anyone else.
McLaren, who secured the constructors' championship in October for the second year in a row, won both titles in the same season for the first time since 1998.
Mercedes driver George Russell has been disqualified and lost his Belgium Grand Prix win on Sunday, after his car was found to be underweight, and his teammate Lewis Hamilton was promoted to first place.
Mercedes have signed 18-year-old Kimi Antonelli to replace Lewis Hamilton next year.
Norris last led the standings in April, a gap of 189 days, and had not won a race since Hungary in early August. Sunday was his sixth victory of the season, one less than Piastri, and career 10th.
Lando Norris put Formula One champions McLaren on pole position for the Monaco Grand Prix in track-record time on Saturday, with Ferrari's Charles Leclerc alongside on the front row for his home race.
Ferrari's underwhelming pace was a surprise to their rivals and to Hamilton, whose quickest lap in the final qualifying session (Q3) was nearly nine-tenths of a second slower than Norris's.
McLaren's Oscar Piastri ended a long win drought with a pole-to-flag victory in the Qatar Grand Prix sprint race in Doha.
Lewis Hamilton shed pent-up tears of joy after ending a 945-day wait for a win with a record ninth British Grand Prix victory in front of his home fans on Sunday.
The two McLaren drivers were ruled out for excessive skid plank wear hours after the race had ended and the podium champagne been sprayed.
Verstappen wins in Qatar to ensure three-way title showdown
Mercedes have called in the police after an anonymous email purporting to be from an insider accused the Formula One team of sabotaging their departing seven times world champion Lewis Hamilton
Red Bull's Max Verstappen secured a dominant win from pole position in the Azerbaijan Grand Prix in Baku, leading the race from start to finish.
With eight points on offer to the winner of Saturday's 100km race, he and Norris -- 22 points behind Piastri -- both have a good chance to reduce the gap to the Australian who was three tenths slower than his teammate.
Lando Norris can be crowned champion on Sunday but a win for Oscar Piastri would take the battle down to a final showdown in Abu Dhabi next weekend.
Lando Norris stretched his Formula One championship lead to nine points after winning Saturday's Sao Paulo sprint while McLaren teammate and title rival Oscar Piastri crashed in a big blow to the Australian's bid to get back on top.
Mocked, misjudged, written off, Lando Norris's carves own road to F1 Glory
Piastri now leads Britain's Norris by 14 points with five rounds and two sprints remaining, while Verstappen has slashed his gap to the Australian to 40 after being 104 behind at the end of August.
Formula One will crown its champion in Abu Dhabi on Sunday with McLaren's Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri both seeking to dethrone Red Bull's Max Verstappen and deny the Dutchman his fifth title in a row.
'Tolerance is an elementary principle of our team and we are enriched by diversity in all its forms.'
McLaren's Lando Norris won the Sao Paulo Grand Prix to surge 24 points clear in the Formula One championship on Sunday.
Max Verstappen seized pole position for Sunday's US Grand Prix while Formula One leader Oscar Piastri qualified sixth after a costly sprint race collision with his McLaren teammate Lando Norris.
Russell fastest in first Austrian GP practice as Dunne shines
Charles Leclerc stunned favourites McLaren by seizing pole position at the Hungarian Grand Prix on Saturday as Ferrari teammate Lewis Hamilton described himself as useless and suggested he should be replaced.
Formula One leader Oscar Piastri put his McLaren on pole position for the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix at Imola on Saturday
Verstappen is third overall in the standings, 61 points behind Piastri who leads Norris by 15, and chasing his third win of the campaign to make up for retirement in Austria last weekend.
George Russell took Mercedes' first win of the Formula One season in Canada on Sunday while McLaren's Oscar Piastri went 22 points clear in the championship after teammate Lando Norris smashed into him and retired.
Lando Norris held off McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri to win the Hungarian Grand Prix on a one-stop strategy and slash the Australian's Formula One lead to nine points going into the August break.
Oscar Piastri won the Dutch Grand Prix to take a mighty 34 point lead in the Formula One championship on Sunday as McLaren teammate and title rival Lando Norris saw his hopes go up in smoke.
Lewis Hamilton has signed a new contract with Mercedes and will continue to partner compatriot George Russell in 2024 and 2025, the team said on Thursday.
