Norris defies the curse: no Briton has ever successfully defended his first title

Norris challenges history No country in the history of F1 has won more world titles than the United Kingdom: 21, divided between 11 different drivers. The last of these is naturally Lando Norris, who in 2025 brought McLaren back to the top of the Circus world. This year Norris will therefore be called upon to defend the number 1 that stands out on his nose. If he were to succeed in the feat, in addition to the satisfaction of having won two consecutive World Championships with two very different technical regulations, the 1999 class would break a small curse that afflicts British drivers who have won the F1 World Championship. In fact, none of them have ever managed to successfully defend the first title won in their career. Even Lewis Hamilton, capable of winning seven championships during his career, was forced to see six years pass between his first World Championship, won with McLaren in 2008, and the second, won at the wheel of Mercedes in 2014. Before them, Jenson Button, Damon Hill, Nigel Mansell, James Hunt, Jackie Stewart, Jim Clark, Graham Hill, John Surtees and Mike Hawthorn had suffered the same fate. All of them, even those who managed to win more than one title during their careers, were unable to confirm themselves as champions in the year following their first ‘coronation’. It will be up to Norris and McLaren, perhaps the British team par excellence, to succeed in breaking this curious negative statistic that accompanies drivers who race under the Union Jack banner.