Lando Norris Warned Over World Champion ‘Gravitas’ in Oscar Piastri Battle

Lando Norris will enter the 2026 season as the reigning F1 champion. After a year full of hardships in 2025, the Briton lifted the champion trophy with a mere two-point lead over Max Verstappen.

Regardless, McLaren will still view Norris with a completely different mindset now that he is a one-time champion. However, the 1996 F1 champion Damon Hill warned the 26-year-old of not being carried away because of the ‘World Champion gravitas’ at McLaren.

Both Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri put up a great fight for the title in the 2025 season. Though Piastri was the clear favorite for a majority of the season, Norris performed when it mattered the most and lifted the title trophy.

As such, McLaren was certainly delighted after a seasoned driver won the championship. Now, the team will certainly look upto the Briton for advice as he has a proven track record as compared to the 24-year-old’s no championship wins.

Damon Hill believes that this world champion gravitas might do Lando Norris more harm than good. Despite Norris not knowing everything in Formula 1, he will be treated like he is by the teams. Hill reckoned that Woking had great faith in both drivers. However, the Briton will certainly have a ‘cache’ as he had one championship win over Oscar Piastri.

Damon Hill recalled his own switch from Williams to Arrows after winning a driver’s title. Hill was treated like a world champion who knew everything about Formula 1. Though the Englishman was knowledgeable, it was nowhere near the level that the team expected from him. As such, Lando Norris might face similar issues, and hence he will have to provide great information to the team and remain humble throughout the battle.

I think that the team have got faith in both, But definitely, what happens when you are a world champion is that you have a little more cache. When I went from Williams [to Arrows], they were going: ‘Oh my god, we’ve got a world champion in our team.’ He must know something of value, but that gravitas is sometimes misplaced because I didn’t know everything.

Damon Hill said on the Stay on Track podcast.

Ex-F1 driver predicts ‘more to come’ from Lando Norris

Lando Norris showcased great performance improvement throughout the 2025 season. The Briton did commit major blunders, but he recovered well in the end and lifted the title trophy. As such, Norris went through a year of massive learning. Still, ex-F1 driver and snubbed FIA steward, Johnny Herbert, believes that there is more to come from the one-time champion in the near future.

Johnny Herbert boldly claimed that Lando Norris grew a lot on track over the 2025 season. The Briton had to stop making crazy decisions and keep a calm head on track. Herbert recalled the Canadian GP and how Norris collided with Oscar Piastri, thus ending his own race.

The 61-year-old is sure that the Briton will learn from his mistakes and put his best foot forward. The former FIA steward declared that the one-time champion hadn’t showcased his best performances, as there was certainly more to come from him.

For me, Lando grew massively last season, and really did learn having to stop himself making, on the race-track, some crazy decision-making. Let’s go to Canada when he crashed into the pit-wall trying to pass his team-mate, and those sort of incidents are something you should never, ever really get yourself into. So he’ll learn from that, be stronger from that, and have we seen the best of Lando Norris? No, definitely not, I still think there is more to come.

Johnny Herbert said on the Stay on Track podcast.

The 2026 season will introduce new regulations for the entire F1 grid, and with that, massive uncertainties. Lando Norris has performed well despite all odds and achieved a great turnaround in pace. Hence, he will definitely keep up with the positive performance if McLaren manages to nail the challenger in the new regulations.

Continue Reading: Helmut Marko Declares 2026 Could See a Mercedes-Powered Champion Over Max Verstappen

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