Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri agree about Lewis Hamilton’s impact on Formula 1

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Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri are both vying to become McLaren’s first drivers’ champion since Lewis Hamilton in 2008. They will join him on a prestigious roll of honour.

Emerson Fittipaldi was the first name on the list, followed by James Hunt, Niki Lauda, Alain Prost, Ayrton Senna, Mika Hakkinen and Hamilton. The present 17-year drought is the longest for half a century, but McLaren’s dominance this year will almost certainly bring it to an end.

As the table below shows, Norris has already overtaken Hamilton for race starts in McLaren colours. In fact, he’s closing in on the all-time leader, David Coulthard (150).

But his success rate is considerably lower than Hamilton, who drove race-winning cars in each of his six seasons. Norris had to wait until last year before he was in that position.

Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri express their admiration for Lewis Hamilton

Norris has repeatedly said it’s surreal to be racing against Hamilton, who’s now a quadragenarian. The former was only eight years old when the latter won his first championship.

Hamilton has rarely battled either McLaren driver this year as he struggles at Ferrari. But despite some evidence of decline in the past couple of seasons, his place in the history books is secure.

He tops almost every significant category and is the only driver with three-figure race wins (105). Norris says Hamilton was the reason he became an F1 fan.

And the 2019 debutant also applauded his compatriot for what he’d done ‘away from the track’. Hamilton has championed diversity in motorsport and also pursued passions like fashion and music.

“When I started watching Formula 1, I was supporting Lewis Hamilton,” said Norris. “Lewis was the guy at McLaren, and he was kind of a reason why I got into Formula 1 in the first place.”

“Lewis is up there, yeah,” Piastri agreed.

“He’s pretty good,” Norris replied. “Seven world championships, over 100 wins – if I get anywhere close to that in my racing career, then I’ll be pretty happy!

“It’s not only that, but also what he’s done away from the track. It’s not easy to accomplish so much away from the track and remain focused on racing. I think he’s set a pretty good standard for what an F1 driver can do.”

Oscar Piastri’s thoughts on Lewis Hamilton potentially winning a world title at Ferrari

Norris has previously played down Hamilton’s achievements on the basis that he had the fastest car for many of his years at Mercedes. There was a challenge from Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel in 2017 and 2018 but, for the most part, he knew he’d win the title if he beat his teammate.

But Norris is in the exact same position this year and seems to have developed a newfound respect for the dedication it takes to win a championship.

Meanwhile, Piastri says it would be ‘pretty cool’ if Hamilton won the title at Ferrari. He was keen to stress that he was speaking as a fan rather than a fellow driver.

It quickly became clear that the championship wasn’t realistic for Hamilton this year. But part of him will still hope to lift the trophy for an unprecedented eighth time in 2026, when the cars will be drastically different.