As Lando Norris appears on the rooftop of an Abu Dhabi paddock building, the grin he’s worn since stepping out of the car after finishing third in the season finale — and clinching enough points to win his first world title — is still beaming. He bounces into the chair, grips the microphone with both hands and can’t hide his excitement. This is no ordinary interview; this is the moment he’s worked for his whole life.
When reminded he is World Champion, he giggles and squeezes the microphone tighter. It may have been hours since the race, a round of TV pen interviews, a lengthy Champion’s Press Conference and celebrations with the team, but it hasn’t fully sunk in. “It just takes a little time to acknowledge what we’ve all achieved,” he says. “I have achieved my dream, that little boy’s dream. Yeah, me as a six-year-old, seeing it on TV, thinking, I want to do that, and now I’m here and achieving it. This is crazy.”
He begins with thanks: to his parents, siblings, engineers, mechanics and everyone back in the factory. “Many years with McLaren, ups, downs. But this year I managed to say thank you for all of it in one big go, with the constructors’ [crown] and with the drivers’ [title].” He admits he needed a quiet moment to let it sink in. “I just went to the toilet. It’s the first time I’ve just been a little bit alone, nice and peaceful and quiet. And I was like, ‘oh, I did it, I did it, I did it!’”
Norris is reflective about his fortune to have been given the opportunity to chase his dream from a young age. “I’m such a lucky person. I know I am,” he says of karting, travelling the world and doing what he loves. The emotion of seeing his parents cry underlined how much the achievement means to them.
The season was far from straightforward. After a strong start with victory in Australia, his team mate Oscar Piastri took control of the title fight while Norris struggled to find comfort in the car. Norris fought back with wins in Monaco and a first home win at Silverstone, but Piastri’s momentum left Norris trailing by 34 points after a painful moment at Zandvoort, where he pulled off track while running second and watched Piastri win. “I certainly thought my life was extremely difficult,” he says of that point. “I had to do a better job than I’ve ever done before. I had to start winning a lot of races. I had to consistently beat my team mate. I had to consistently beat everyone.”
That turnaround was built on relentless work: deeper simulator sessions, long trackside debriefs, bringing in extra people to help him understand and extract more from himself and the team. “All of these little things, a lot of little things that no one else gets to see,” he says. The extra work paid off — commanding wins in Mexico and Brazil shifted momentum back his way.
The championship still threw twists. A double disqualification for McLaren in Las Vegas and a strategy error in Qatar reopened the fight and allowed four-time champion Max Verstappen back into contention, leaving Norris with a 12-point lead into Abu Dhabi. Norris protected his focus, narrowing his circle and taking advice from successful athletes and former champions — notably Sebastian Vettel and messages from Casey Stoner and others — which he believes helped secure the crucial margins. “When you win the championship by two points, I would certainly say having these moments of faith from others around me got me those two points,” he says.
Defeating Verstappen — one of the greatest drivers of the era — and outlasting a season-long challenger in Piastri is an impressive feat. Norris is frank about the pressure they brought. “Max and Oscar, I don’t want you to forget about Oscar, they both made my life hell this season,” he says. “So much of what I’ve done is because they give me an ass-whooping every now and then.” He pays respect to both rivals: Verstappen for his proven greatness and Piastri for driving like a veteran despite his relative youth. “I’ve got to give a respect and credit to both Oscar and Max,” he adds.
After the formalities of press and trophy duties, Norris admits he was eager to celebrate with friends and teammates, though within 36 hours he was back at the track for testing and preparations for 2026 and his title defence. He’ll get a couple of weeks to step away and properly enjoy the achievement, but the work of Formula 1 continues — and so will he.
For now, Norris is simply savouring the moment, thankful to those who backed him from the start and proud to have delivered the biggest possible thank-you: a world drivers’ championship and a constructors’ crown for McLaren. “Today, instead of words of saying thank you, as much as I’ll still say thank you in words, the action of a championship means so much more than that. And I thank them to the world.”