Lando Norris has revealed that he would “love” to have more battles with Lewis Hamilton in Formula 1, as he backed the Ferrari driver to bounce back in 2026.
Norris edged Max Verstappen and McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri to the Drivers’ crown in 2025 to succeed Hamilton as Britain’s latest F1 World Champion.
But while Norris celebrated in Abu Dhabi, Hamilton rued another wretched weekend as he crossed the line in eighth place to end the season without a podium.
That capped a dismal debut campaign with Ferrari, one in which the Maranello-based squad failed to grab a single win and slumped to fourth in the standings.
With new regulations on the horizon, however, Norris has warned that it would be unwise to discount the seven-time F1 champion despite his recent struggles.
“We’ve had a good amount of battles already. I would love to race a bit more with Lewis,” he told Sky F1.
“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.
“There’s a lot of us that want to climb in the footsteps of these other guys. George [Russell] and Oscar are two of those and there’s so many guys on the grid.”
Norris has conceded that the sweeping overhaul to both the chassis and power unit rules will complicate his endeavour to retain the Drivers’ Championship this term.
“Next year, everyone’s got an opportunity,” he added. “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.”
READ MORE – The ‘pivotal’ moment that made Lando Norris ‘cry a little bit’ en route to maiden F1 title in 2025
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