It’s a Tuesday afternoon at the McLaren Technology Centre when Lando Norris arrives for his first interview of the year. After six hours of media and marketing commitments he’s still upbeat — shaking hands, catching up about winter holidays — clearly buoyed by finally achieving his lifelong goal: the Drivers’ World Championship.
We open by ticking through the targets he set for 2025 — stand up for yourself, enjoy life, help others more, and win both the Drivers’ and Constructors’ titles. Each box has been checked. So what’s next? “That’s tough!” he laughs. His answer is simple: the same goal, the same process. He wants to recreate the feeling and let the year play out the same way. “That’s my goal. That’s the team’s goal.”
Beating the likes of Max Verstappen and team-mate Oscar Piastri last season put Norris among the select group of people crowned F1 World Champion. He admits the title still feels surreal: it’s been his whole life and, now that it’s done, he finds himself trying to make it happen again. Seeing the number 1 on the car and hearing it spoken by others helps the reality sink in.
His winter was low-key and restorative — family, friends and downtime that left him “recharged” and “relaxed.” In Monaco he opened the box with his World Championship trophy and placed it in his hallway next to his Miami winner’s trophy. Passing them both is a daily reminder of two of the biggest moments of his career. He reflects on the significance of having his name alongside drivers he once admired — Hamilton, Alonso, Verstappen and McLaren icons such as Prost and Senna — and calls it a “beautiful thing.”
More than the trophies, last year delivered a sustained boost to his self-belief. Norris, who has often been his own harshest critic, says proving it on track removed a lot of doubt. “I feel more relaxed,” he explains. “Last year I proved to myself that I have what it takes. Every time I might have a bad day or a bad weekend, I can say to myself, ‘I did it last year.’ I don’t need to question myself anymore.”
That steadiness is important in Formula 1. Back at McLaren he still sees the same faces and the same drive to repeat. He describes the atmosphere as a kind of déjà vu — familiar, focused, with everyone intent on doing it again.
But defending a title is notoriously hard — only a handful of drivers have done it — and 2026 arrives with major regulation changes to chassis and power units that make the order harder to predict. Norris had his first run in the new MCL40 during Barcelona’s shakedown, a session meant to wake the systems rather than chase lap times. He stresses it’s “still early days,” noting cold conditions and tyre behaviour that won’t mirror Bahrain’s official tests. The shakedown exposed some niggles, which is exactly why they ran it: to find problems and fix them. He trusts the team that helped get him here and isn’t worried about immediate expectations. “Whether it’s going to be first, second, third, fourth, I have no idea,” he says. He’s learned to let go of hard expectations because they only add stress; patience and steady improvement matter more.
Oscar Piastri remains a key challenger. The two get on well off-track and respect each other, but the intensity of a championship fight adds an awkward edge to any team-mate rivalry. Norris accepts that Piastri will push harder to reverse last season’s late fade and that he must raise his own level in response. He trusts the leadership — Andrea Stella, Zak Brown and others — to manage the balance and is already looking forward to the intra-team battles.
Norris returns to the paddock relaxed but driven. His 2026 objective is uncluttered: repeat the achievement. With radical rule changes, a new car to understand and fierce competition both inside and outside the garage, the challenge is enormous. Still, he believes the confidence gained, the work ethic in the factory and the team environment give them a genuine shot at defending the crown.