Lando Norris will ditch the ‘4’ and bolt the ‘1’ onto his McLaren next season, the freshly crowned World Champion opting for tradition over sentiment after sealing the 2025 title in Abu Dhabi by two points over Max Verstappen.
It’s a choice that never sounded like much of a debate inside Woking. Speaking to Sky Sports News, Norris framed the number change as a shared badge of honour more than a personal vanity plate. In his words, that ‘1’ is there to be earned—and worn by everyone who helped him get there. The mechanics, the engineers, the whole operation. “We’re number one,” not “we’re number four.” You can hear the grin.
The ripple effects are instantly visible on the grid. Norris’s familiar ‘4’ goes into hibernation and, with Verstappen no longer champion, the ‘33’ is set to return to the Red Bull—unless the Dutchman finally gets his hands on the one he wanted from day one: ‘3’.
That’s been Verstappen’s preference since his rookie season, blocked only because Daniel Ricciardo already had claim to the number. Now, with the F1 Commission having green-lit a plan in principle to allow drivers to change permanent numbers mid-career, the door’s been nudged open. The exact process still needs to be written into the regulations, but the intent is clear: if a number you wanted was taken when you arrived, you may soon be able to switch later.
“Approval” will be required, Verstappen told De Telegraaf when asked what he’d run next season, and he stopped short of confirming anything. But the logic is straightforward. If the rule lands in time and the paperwork lines up, #3 could replace #33 on the Red Bull. If not, #33 resumes its tour of duty—just as it did before Verstappen’s title run began in 2021.
If you’re a fan of the numbers game, this is a quietly big deal. Since the permanent driver-number system kicked off in 2014, changes have been rare by design. The only exception has been the champion’s right to adopt #1, a tradition several recent champions revived because, frankly, it says what it needs to. It’s simple. It’s definitive. It’s the point of the whole thing.
For Norris, it’s also a statement of collective identity at McLaren after a season where consistency and cool execution beat outright dominance. He didn’t need to win in Abu Dhabi—P3 did the job—but it was enough to end Verstappen’s four-year grip on the Drivers’ Championship and give papaya the right to shout a bit over the winter.
So yes, the grid will look a touch different when F1 fires back up. The champion’s McLaren will carry the ‘1’ for the first time in Norris’s career. The ‘4’ takes a sabbatical. Red Bull will either restore ‘33’ or, if the new rules allow and the team goes that way, roll out a long-awaited ‘3’. It’s a small cosmetic tweak with a big symbolic punch.
And beyond the pageantry, it’s a sign the sport’s loosening a button or two on its number rules without losing the plot. Let the champion run the ‘1’. Let the stars carry a mark that truly fits. Fans get cleaner storylines, teams get a morale boost, and drivers get a little bit more of their identity on the car. Seems like everyone wins.
