After handing the championship lead to his teammate for much of the season, the British driver hit top form in the final stretch, aided by the Australian’s unexpected performance drop, ultimately sealing the title and claiming the first championship of his career.

Norris achieved this historic milestone in his seventh Formula 1 season, bouncing back from last year’s setback at the hands of Max Verstappen, and joining a very exclusive group of drivers to have secured a championship for the British team.

In fact, only six — now seven — drivers have ever claimed a Formula 1 world title with McLaren, with Norris now standing alongside true legends of the sport.

Born in Bristol on 13 November 1999, Norris began karting in 2008 at just eight years old, immediately claiming pole in his first national event.

After winning his first junior titles, the Briton made the step up to single-seaters in 2014, competing in the Ginetta Junior Championship — a support series to the British Touring Car Championship — where he also took home the Rookie Cup.

The following year, Lando moved up to MSA (now known as British F4) with Carlin, winning the championship at his first attempt by claiming eight victories, ten poles, and fourteen podiums, quickly drawing significant attention.

2016 proved another year of major sporting success, as he competed in three different championships — the Toyota Racing Series, Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0, and Formula Renault 2.0 Northern European Cup — and remarkably secured the title in all three.

In 2017, Norris competed in the European Formula 3 Championship with Carlin, once again claiming the title with nine wins and eight poles, and finishing second in the Macau Grand Prix that same year.

His on-track results convinced McLaren to back him strongly, bringing him into their Driver Development Programme as a test and reserve driver for the 2018 season — a year in which he battled George Russell for the championship, ultimately finishing second.

In his debut Formula 1 season in 2019, Norris finished eleventh without securing a podium or victory, but he quickly made a name for himself not only with his driving skills but also with his charm and personality. He immediately became one of the most charismatic drivers on the grid, forming a pairing with Carlos Sainz that fans still remember fondly today.

Even in 2020, the year the COVID-19 pandemic struck, Norris secured his first career podium in Austria and finished a Formula 1 season in the top ten for the first time, coming ninth in the standings.

He improved further in 2021, ending the championship in sixth place, claiming his first career pole in Russia in wet conditions, and scoring podiums in both the Emilia Romagna GP and the Monaco GP.

2022 proved a challenging year results-wise, as McLaren struggled to field a competitive car under the new ground-effect regulations — a trend that continued into the early part of the 2023 season.

The turnaround came in the second half of 2023: in Austria, the Papaya team brought a substantial upgrade package that revitalized the MCL60. Norris finished fourth in the race and followed it up with a home heroics in Silverstone, taking second after leading large portions of the Grand Prix.

Norris would finish the season with seven podiums and sixth in the championship. In 2024, after letting Red Bull dominate the early rounds, McLaren steadily improved, establishing themselves as the team to beat by mid-season.

Norris began reaping the rewards of the team’s work, claiming four victories, eight poles, and thirteen podiums, ultimately finishing second in the championship, too far behind Max Verstappen to challenge for the title.

The year of Norris’s definitive breakthrough is 2025: despite a few occasional setbacks like the previous season, the Briton began hitting consistent results after the summer break, overtaking his teammate in Mexico and holding the championship lead with impeccable form, also becoming the driver with the most races in McLaren’s history.