23-Year-Old Lando Norris Contemplates Retirement as Mercedes Champion Emerges as Inspiration

As of October 22, 2023, Lando Norris is a 12-time podium sitter. In comparison to Nico Hulkenberg, that’s a pretty successful career. But in comparison to someone like Max Verstappen—a 26-year-old with 50 career wins and three championships—Norris’ zero wins, one pole position, and a handful of podiums aren’t all that great. Considering he’s only at the start of his career and is only in his fifth F1 season, retirement should be the last thing on his mind. Especially considering he’s a driver who people think has the potential to win championships. But is Norris already done with F1?

Let’s compare his situation to his best friend, Max Verstappen. After winning his third title a few weeks ago, the Dutchman revealed he wouldn’t mind retiring if given the chance. That’s considering he’s already achieved everything he set out to do. It’s no secret that Norris has the same goals Verstappen did, but seeing as he’s not yet achieved them, what changed his mind?

Lando Norris knows when he wants to quit F1

Every F1 driver’s life goal is to win at least one championship if not multiple ones. Well, everyone except Yuki Tsunoda, whose dream is to open a restaurant. While his biggest fanboy, Lando Norris, may have once dreamt of winning championships, it looks like the 23-year-old isn’t thinking that far. When he joined F1 in 2019, McLaren told him it’d do everything possible to build him a championship-winning car. Five years later, that hasn’t happened yet, and Norris might not want to wait any longer.

While you may think that means he’s considering a move to Red Bull—a team that’s been trying to poach him for a while—that’s not the case either. As much as driving a race-winning car would mean to the Brit, he’s devoted to McLaren. But is he devoted to F1? In an interview at the US GP last weekend, Norris shocked everyone by saying, “I’m going to retire next year, to be honest.” What prompted this, you ask? The 23-year-old elaborated on his plans.

“[Nico] Rosberg retired after his first championship. I’m gonna retire after my first win. Just win it and out. Only as good as your last race,” added Norris. Nico Rosberg joined F1 in 2006 and after fighting for the championship for two seasons, he finally won it in 2016 with Mercedes. In a shocking turn of events, the German announced his retirement after the season. Now, everyone remembers Rosberg as the driver who beat Lewis Hamilton to the championship and went out on a high. Norris plans to do precisely that, except he feels a win will be enough to keep him satisfied and ensure that he, too, leaves F1 on a high.

Read More: 7 Days After Max Verstappen Threatened to Quit, Lando Norris Stands Tall With Best Friend Over Concerning Issue

From what Norris said, he believes his first win will come only in 2024. While McLaren and Norris’ fans can’t wait for the day that win finally comes, would you really want to watch him win if he retires after that? In the unlikely case that he does retire, at least his post-retirement plans are sorted.

Lando Norris could revive his golf dream

Every decision has its pros and cons. While Norris’ retirement might be something few people in the F1 community would put in their pros list, surprisingly, the 23-year-old would be one of them, too. Why? Because the 2022 regulation changes have altered his lifestyle quite a bit. With the ground-effect regulations, driving an F1 car has become more physically challenging. Cars hit the ground more often and have firmer suspensions. For Norris, this has severely affected his back, causing acute pain.

Since F1 is his priority (at least for the time being), he’s had to make quite a few lifestyle changes. He told Speedcafe, “It got to quite a bad point last year. Every day, I was struggling, struggling with sleep and everything, just in constant pain. Now I’m in a much better position, but I’m also limiting a lot more things around it. Even like golf, I’m playing a lot less golf just because of my back.” If the 23-year-old does retire, he could go back to playing golf, the sport he’s most into outside of F1 and dearly loves.

WATCH THIS STORY | How Lando Norris Had a Chance to Go to Red Bull But Instead Chose McLaren

Which version of Lando Norris would you prefer—the F1 driver or the golfer?