Lando Norris is ready to challenge history as he goes in search of his second Formula 1 World Championship title, after beating Max Verstappen and Oscar Piastri to the crown in the 2025 season.
Norris takes on history
No country in the history of Formula 1 has won more world titles than the United Kingdom: an impressive 21 championships shared among 11 different drivers. The most recent of these is, of course, Lando Norris, who in 2025 returned McLaren to the very top of the Formula 1 world. This season, Norris will therefore be tasked with defending the number 1 that now sits proudly on the nose of his car.
If he manages to pull off the feat, in addition to the satisfaction of winning two consecutive world titles under two very different technical regulations, the 1999-born driver would also break a small curse that has long haunted British Formula 1 champions. No British driver has ever successfully defended the first world title of their career. Even Lewis Hamilton, who went on to win seven championships over the course of his career, had to wait six years between his first title, secured with McLaren in 2008, and his second, achieved at the wheel of a Mercedes in 2014.
Before Lewis Hamilton, the same fate had affected Jenson Button, Damon Hill, Nigel Mansell, James Hunt, Jackie Stewart, Jim Clark, Graham Hill, John Surtees and Mike Hawthorn. All of them, including those who later managed to win multiple world championships, failed to retain the title in the season immediately following their first “coronation”.
It will be up to Lando Norris and McLaren — perhaps the most quintessentially British team of all — to attempt to break this curious and stubborn statistic that has followed drivers racing under the Union Jack for decades.
The statistical hurdle facing Lando Norris adds an extra layer of intrigue to a season already defined by massive regulatory changes. Whether the 2025 champion can overcome this historical trend will likely depend on McLaren’s ability to master the new 2026 power units as effectively as they did the previous ground-effect era.
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