Lando Norris has the taste for another F1 world championship title

Lando Norris said it is “absolutely the goal” to successfully defend his maiden Formula One world championship.

Norris became the 11th British driver to take the F1 crown after he saw off Red Bull’s four-time champion Max Verstappen and McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri at December’s finale in Abu Dhabi.

McLaren dominated last year but the sport has undergone a radical overhaul of regulations and it is unclear which team will hit the ground running this season.

However, when asked if he is ready to secure back-to-back titles, Norris said: “It is absolutely the goal. When you win one, it certainly gives you a lot more confidence.

“It is different for every driver. You have to find your own way of doing things. There are people with more confidence, and drivers with less. I have never been one to have the most confidence in myself but I certainly have more of it now, that’s for sure.

“I have always been a seeing-is-believing kind of guy and I have always had to see myself on the top step and see myself winning to finally believe that I can do it.

“Halfway through last season I felt like I had everything I needed – the people around me, the team, the car, and my own ability – to go out and win the championship. That’s the first time I have had that belief in myself and it turned out to be the correct thing to have.”

Norris was speaking at the Autosport Awards in London where he was recognised as the British Competition Driver of the Year.

Asked if he has watched back the moment where he took the title in Abu Dhabi, the 26-year-old replied: “No I have not. I have honestly tried to be as far from everything as possible and just enjoying the rest of my life.

“I love Formula One, I also love being away from it. It is an incredible job, I get paid well, and I get to travel with my friends and play golf in beautiful places and I like to go and do those other things. You have one life and I want to try, and enjoy, as many things as possible.”

Norris will be handed his first chance of driving the car he hopes can propel him to consecutive titles at next week’s behind-closed-doors test in Barcelona, which starts on Monday.

However, perhaps surprisingly, McLaren will not take part in the first of five days of running at the Circuit de Catalunya. Teams are only allowed to run on three days.

And McLaren team principal Andrea Stella explained: “We plan to start testing either on day two or day three. We wanted to give ourselves as much time as possible for development and this was always going to be plan A.

“There has been so much work on the 2026 cars. It is almost unprecedented because there has never before been such a huge and simultaneous change of chassis, power unit, and tyres.”

There will be two additional pre-season tests in Bahrain next month ahead of the opening race in Australia on March 8.