Following his first World Championship win in 2025, McLaren’s Lando Norris has received strong endorsement from Damon Hill, the 1996 Formula 1 World Champion, who believes Norris could claim three or four additional titles. Norris secured the 2025 championship by narrowly defeating Max Verstappen by two points in the climactic season finale, joining an elite group of only 35 drivers to ever win the title.
As the 2026 Formula 1 season approaches after its winter hiatus, attention centers on who will contend for the championship this year. With Norris now the defending champion, he enters the new season as a key figure expected to challenge for further success.
Understanding the significance of the first championship success
Damon Hill emphasizes how winning a first championship can be a pivotal breakthrough for a driver’s career. He explained on the Stay on Track podcast that achieving the initial title often brings a sense of relief and confidence that can fuel further victories.
“He’s done it and there’s a lot of comfort that comes from that,”
Hill said.
“He will be able to, to some degree, relax. It’s a question of the amount of avarice you have to win.”
Hill compared Norris’s situation to that of Michael Schumacher, who after winning multiple championships kept pushing to win even more.
“Some people, it propels them to go on to win multiple championships. I definitely think Lando’s got more than one in him. I think he’s probably got three or four.”
Potential challenges from teammate Oscar Piastri for 2026
Another contender for the upcoming season’s title is Norris’s McLaren teammate, Oscar Piastri. Piastri appeared poised to claim his maiden championship in 2025, but a late-season drop in form impacted his chances. Hill expects Piastri to have analyzed his shortcomings during the off-season and will be a formidable rival in 2026.
Hill remarked that although Piastri did not significantly underperform, certain moments led to lost ground during the last season.
“He will go through the winter and think ‘Okay, what do I have to do to patch up those little holes in my performance?’ And he will find out how to stop that happening again.”
He also noted that both drivers will have drawn valuable lessons from competing against each other and from Verstappen’s late-season pressure.
“Of course, they’ve both been through a title fight between themselves, and then Max [Verstappen], of course, at the end, putting pressure on them, and they will have learned massively from that. So there’ll be a strong pairing, but there will be more determination within the team from Oscar to stop Lando beating him again.”
Outlook for McLaren and Norris’s future in Formula 1
Damon Hill’s prediction places Lando Norris among the sport’s rising stars capable of sustained dominance after his breakthrough championship. The upcoming season will not only test Norris’s ability to defend his title but also showcase the evolving internal rivalry with Piastri, which could drive both drivers to new heights. McLaren’s performance and strategies will be crucial in supporting their drivers’ pursuits of multiple championships.
With the championship battle poised to intensify, Norris’s potential to win multiple titles underscores a promising era ahead in Formula 1, potentially shaping the sport’s competitive landscape for years to come.
