Early Lando Norris exit? F1 champion poses scenario

Lando Norris

Early Lando Norris exit? F1 champion poses scenario

Lando Norris won the 2025 F1 drivers' title

Sheona Mountford F1 Journalist

Motorsport journalist working in F1 since 2024.

Tuesday 23 December 2025 16:56

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F1 champion Nico Rosberg has assessed whether Lando Norris will follow his lead and retire early from the sport.

Norris joined Rosberg in the list of 35 names to have won an F1 drivers' title over the sport's 75 year history, following years of the German bolstering the champion and calling him 'world champion material.'

The British driver didn't take the easy road to his first title, however, despite McLaren's dominance in 2025, losing out to Oscar Piastri during the first half of the season and only just fending off Max Verstappen in Abu Dhabi.

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Norris finished a crucial third on the road to claim the championship, regardless of Verstappen's race win, and has since been immortalised in the F1 history books as a world title holder.

Rosberg on his early F1 retirement

During Sky Sports F1's coverage of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, 2016 champion Nico Rosberg reflected on his own title win, after which he abruptly retired from the sport at the age of 31.

The former Mercedes driver was embroiled in a gruelling title battle with team-mate and then reigning champion Lewis Hamilton, with the intense rivalry taking a lot out of the driver.

Rosberg mused whether Norris would do similar, but asserted he was far too young and that the McLaren star still has many great years in the sport to come.

“Everybody does it his own way. For me, it just felt like I was at the very top, and I wanted to go out on the top," Rosberg explained.

“And it just felt like a beautiful moment to do so after a long career. So for me, personally, that was really the right thing.

“I know a lot of people were disappointed, because it was such a great battle at the time.”

“But anyway, in the case of Lando, I’m sure he’s not even thinking about a scenario like that, and he still thinks he has many more great years to come.

“He’s, of course, also younger than I was at the time. So everybody does it his own way, you know.”

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F1 McLaren Lando Norris Abu Dhabi Grand Prix Nico Rosberg