Lando Norris has been crowned as Britain’s 11th Formula 1 World Championship, securing his maiden title with a third-place finish in the Abu Dhabi season finale. The 26-year-old now joins an elite group of British greats, including Jim Clark, Sir Jackie Stewart and seven-time champion Sir Lewis Hamilton.

Across Formula 1’s 75-year history, the UK has been a dominant force, producing 11 of the 35 World Champions crowned to date.

Norris’s path to the top mirrors that of many of his predecessors, beginning in competitive UK karting at a young age. Born in Bristol and raised in Glastonbury, he first took to the track at eight years old. Early domestic success soon led to international competition, where he won the 2013 CIK-FIA European Championship and the 2014 CIK-FIA World Championship – becoming the youngest winner of the latter at the time.

After moving into circuit racing, Norris claimed the Ginetta Junior Championship title before progressing to single-seaters. He won the British Formula 4 Championship (then MSA Formula) in 2015, followed by the Eurocup Formula Renault title in 2016. A standout 2017 season earned him the FIA Formula 3 European Championship, and he finished runner-up to George Russell in the 2018 FIA Formula 2 Championship.

His rise was bolstered by support from Motorsport UK’s Academy, created to accelerate the careers of the nation’s most promising drivers. In early 2017, he joined the McLaren Driver Development Programme, paving the way to Formula 1.

Norris made his F1 race debut in 2019. Since then, he has taken 11 Grand Prix victories and helped fuel McLaren’s resurgence, contributing to back-to-back Constructors’ Championships. Now he adds a prized Drivers’ Championship to his achievements – another landmark moment for British motorsport.

“It’s incredible and pretty unreal,” Norris admitted. “I’ve dreamed of this for a long, long time. Everyone does. There have been a lot of ups and downs, but none of that matters as long as you try to come out on top. That’swhat we’ve managed to do.

“This was really for my mum and my dad because they let me chase this dream and today I got to share it with them. I’m just crazy happy.”