Lando Norris reveals future Lewis Hamilton F1 wish

Newly-crowned F1 world champion Lando Norris has admitted he would “love” to race more against Lewis Hamilton.

Norris clinched his maiden F1 world championship by finishing third at the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, having pipped Red Bull’s Max Verstappen to the 2025 crown by just two points.

The McLaren driver has become the 11th Briton to be crowned F1 world champion but is hoping to battle seven-time world champion Hamilton more in 2026.

Hamilton endured a miserable debut season with Ferrari, who were winless in 2025 as the 40-year-old Briton failed to finish on a grand prix podium for the first time in his illustrious F1 career.

But Norris has tipped Hamilton to bounce back next season.

"We've had a good amount of battles already. I would love to race a bit more with Lewis,” Norris told Sky Sports News. "Obviously, Ferrari struggled a lot more this year than I think everyone was expecting.

"Lewis has proved himself to be probably the best of all time. Everyone knows if anyone can bounce back from difficult years, it's Mr Hamilton, and I would love to race against him more.

"It's always a privilege that I get to race against someone that is the best in the world. You have got a good amount of those guys. You have Fernando [Alonso], Lewis, Max [Verstappen].

"There's a lot of us that want to climb in the footsteps of these other guys. George and Oscar [Piastri] are two of those and there's so many guys on the grid.”

Norris ready to defend crown

Norris is aware F1’s rules reset has the potential to shake-up the pecking  order and could knock McLaren off their perch, but he feels ready to fight to defend his world championship regardless of the competition.

"Next year, everyone's got an opportunity," Norris said. "Everyone's looking forward to it.

"People want to come to take my crown, and I want to try to retain it. And I look forward to that battle.”

But first, the 26-year-old Brit is looking forward to having some time off where he plans to forget about being an F1 driver.

"I will spend some time with my family, with my friends,” Norris replied when asked what his plans are for the winter break.

"Everyone in the team have earned themselves a good break. Work starts even earlier next year than it normally does, by almost three weeks, so a much shorter holiday.

"Just get out somewhere, enjoy some time away with my friends and family. And before I know it by the time I go 'this is nice', we're going to have to get back to training and get ready for next season, but I'm looking forward to some good days off that everyone deserves."