Lando Norris has confirmed he will run the number 1 on his McLaren next year after winning the Formula 1 Drivers’ Championship. Only the reigning F1 world champion can use number 1, so Norris will take it from Max Verstappen, who has used the number since 2022. Lewis Hamilton chose not to use the number after his title-winning years at Mercedes, keeping his iconic 44.
Norris, who had used number 4 since his 2019 F1 debut, told Sky Sports News: “It’s tradition. It’s there for a reason. It’s there because you can go and try grab it and you can work hard to try and get it. All of us as a team that gets to have a role in McLaren, or my car, will get to wear that with pride. It’s all my mechanics, my engineers, everyone that’s part of McLaren gets to have that acknowledgement too. So it’s not for me, it’s for them as well. It’s their pride, knowing that they put a lot of work and effort into everything that they can also go ‘we’re number one’. It’s not as cool when you say ‘we are number four’ so they will be even happier than I am!”
Since 2014 drivers have stuck with the same car number after making their F1 debut, but that rule will change from 2026 to allow drivers to change numbers year to year. Regardless of the regulation change, Verstappen would have needed to pick a new number after losing number 1. The Dutchman ran number 33 before becoming world champion but has said his favourite number is 3, previously used by Daniel Ricciardo.
Image caption: Max Verstappen has used the number 1 on his car since 2022 (Red Bull Content Pool)
Norris pipped Verstappen to this year’s Drivers’ Championship by two points and team-mate Oscar Piastri by 13 points. He is the 11th British driver to become F1 world champion and received congratulations from figures including UK prime minister Sir Keir Starmer, NBA star Jimmy Butler, tennis champion Carlos Alcaraz and darts champion Luke Littler.
“It was a big moment. It was a pretty incredible achievement for me and many other people that are all part of the big journey that we’ve been on,” said Norris. “I had to celebrate well, enjoy the moment, because it’s a rare moment for anyone. It could be a unique moment, it could be the only one so I had to make it memorable. I’ve got a lot of messages! There’s a lot on Instagram, a lot of legends, a lot of incredible athletes or personalities and just a lot of people that I’ve met around the world. That’s always just that bonus to everything. It’s not what I go around craving. The moment is the one with my friends, my family. But of course, the more messages you get, the cooler it is, so I appreciate all of the messages.”
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