Norris shares 2026 F1 target in defiant message after 2025 championship title

Lando Norris has said his goal is to secure a back-to-back Formula 1 world drivers' championships in 2026, after winning his first in 2025.

The McLaren driver accepted the Autosport Champion award at the 2026 Autosport Awards and confirmed to the cheering crowd that his eyes are on the title once again in the upcoming season. 

"It's absolutely the goal. Yes, it's absolutely, absolutely the goal," the Briton said, after avoiding the question from host Greg James. "Certainly, winning one gives you a lot more confidence. It's different for everyone, right? You've got to find your own way of doing things, and you have people with more confidence, people with less.

"I've never been the one to have the most confidence in myself. I certainly have more of it now, that's for sure. I've always been a seeing-is-believing kind of guy, but that's even for myself. So I've always had to see myself on the top step, see myself winning to finally believe that I can do it. But certainly last year, I managed to realise that before I achieved it.

"Already halfway through the 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. So that first time I really had the belief in myself was last year, and it turned out to be the correct thing to have. So, that was the beautiful thing, too."

2026 brings in a new wave of regulations to the championship, allowing the grid to level itself as each team once again starts from zero. No one knows which teams will rise to the top, but Norris is hopeful.

There have been predictions that Mercedes-powered cars - the power unit McLaren uses - are likely to perform well given the Brackley outfit's dominance during the previous hybrid era. But we won't know until the cars hit the track at the season-opening Australian Grand Prix.