Lando Norris could break one Nico Rosberg Mercedes record if he wins the 2025 F1 championship

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Lando Norris is fighting to become a Formula 1 world champion in 2025 with McLaren. The Woking outfit have not had a champion since 2008, and both of their talents have a chance of ending that streak.

With Max Verstappen the best part of 100 points behind Oscar Piastri in the standings, it looks likely to be a straight shootout between the McLaren drivers in 2025. With 11 wins, eight pole positions and 24 podiums between them, they have been the class of the field this season.

Norris established an early advantage with pole and the win in Melbourne. However, mistakes in qualifying and his racecraft hampered him as Piastri collected four wins in the following five events. The Brit did not win another race until Monaco.

Questions were being asked of Norris as to whether he wanted to become champion, as mistakes were proving costly. He did not help himself when he crashed into Piastri at the Canadian GP – he would be leading the championship had he finished the race.

But the Brit has recovered impressively, winning three of the last four races. With the gap now down to nine points between the McLaren drivers, Norris is in a strong position to win the title, and he would be beating a Nico Rosberg record if he does.

Nico Rosberg holds the title of most races with a single team before winning the F1 championship

Rosberg retired from F1 immediately after claiming his first and only title in 2016. It took him seven seasons and 136 races with Mercedes to win the crown.

The German played a key role in helping the Silver Arrows progress from the midfield into a title contender. Racing alongside Michael Schumacher, he won Mercedes’ first race since their return to F1 in 2010 in China in 2012.

After Schumacher’s retirement that season, he would be partnered with Lewis Hamilton. As Mercedes began their dominance in the turbo hybrid era, Rosberg and Hamilton sparked an intense rivalry that divided the garages, one that Toto Wolff could not get his head around.

Hamilton produced a ‘dagger to the heart’ for Rosberg with how he was ‘logging’ with the top management at Mercedes. The German would eventually overcome his rival to win the 2016 title by five points.

Rosberg called time on his career after winning the title, giving him the title of the driver with the most races for a single team before winning the championship. Max Verstappen is not far behind his tally of 136, having taken part in 118 races for Red Bull before winning his first title in 2021.

READ MORE: McLaren driver Lando Norris’ life outside F1 from parents to celebration

Lando Norris can beat Nico Rosberg’s record if he wins the 2025 title with McLaren

Norris has spent his entire F1 career to date with McLaren, debuting in 2019 as Fernando Alonso’s replacement. After the Hungarian GP, the Brit has made 142 race starts.

That already takes him ahead of Rosberg’s tally at Mercedes with 10 races to go in 2025. He will break the German’s record if he claims the title over Piastri, but whether he can accomplish it is another question entirely.

Alex Jacques says Norris ‘can’t afford’ to drop positions off the start, speaking exclusively to F1 Oversteer. While he was able to recover and win the race in Budapest after a poor start thanks to a one-stop strategy, he may not have a similar opportunity in another race.

F1 fans love Zak Brown’s plan for McLaren as he intends to ask Norris and Piastri how they want to go about celebrating one driver winning the title. They think they have learned from Hamilton and Rosberg’s fallout at Mercedes.