Lando Norris reveals car number decision for F1 title defence

Lando Norris has confirmed he will use the number 1 on his McLaren car when he launches his F1 title defence in 2026.

The 26-year-old Briton clinched his first world championship title by finishing third in a tense season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix on Sunday.

Norris beat Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, who claimed his eighth victory of the season at Yas Marina, to the world title by just two points.

Following his title triumph, Norris had the option to race with the number 1, or continue to use his number 4, which he has run since making his F1 debut in 2019.

Norris has opted to make the change, meaning he take Verstappen’s number 1 away from him next season.

“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,” Norris told Sky Sports News.

“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!”

Verstappen has run the number 1 on his car since 2022 but loses the privilege after Norris ended his four-year reign at the top of F1.

The four-time world champion has heavily hinted he will change his number altogether.

Verstappen’s number of choice was 33 but he is eyeing up former Red Bull teammate Daniel Ricciardo’s old number 3.

Since F1 introduced personal driver numbers from the 2014 season, Lewis Hamilton has been the only world champion to not race with the number 1 after winning the drivers’ world crown.

Hamilton has stuck to his number 44 since 2014, only running a number 1 on his car as a one-off during Friday practice at the 2018 and 2019 Abu Dhabi Grands Prix. 

“I personally don’t like it, I don’t like it at all,” Hamilton explained of his choice. 

“The reason I did it is I’ve been here for six years and I remember when the team had number one when Jenson won the world title, and [he] moved to McLaren and brought the number one with him, it’s strange that McLaren would then have the number one on the car.

“So since we’ve been world champions we’ve never had number one on the car. And I thought it would just be cool.”