10/12/2025

SPORTS WEDNESDAY | DEC 10, 2025

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‘I have to go with No. 1’ Norris knows life will change as F1 champion

Three things to watch ahead of the 2026 season

LANDO NORRIS’S success with McLaren in ending Max Verstappen’s four-year reign as world champion on Sunday ushered in a winter of radical change for Formula One. The 26-year-old Briton’s title win at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix came in the final race before new cars and technical changes arrive in 2026 – and signalled an end to a “winning by any means” cul ture in the sport. Here’s a look at three things to watch going into next sea son: Norris said he won the title his way and with a team that respected its own “papaya rules” of equality under immense pres sure. His triumph prompted a wave of emotion not only for his win, but the way in which he won and then managed the impact of the occasion. Even Verstappen, seen by many as a natural heir to Ayrton Senna and Michael Schumacher, uncompromising in taking a “kil ler” approach to the job, as 1996 champion Damon Hill described it, softened his style this year. The departure from Red Bull of long-serving and successful team boss Christian Horner cre ated a less divisive atmosphere in the paddock too with respect for McLaren’s onus on fair racing without team orders setting a new trend for the future. His teammate Oscar Piastri showed total respect for McLaren’s rulebook during the season, even if he was at times exasperated by his ill fortune, and he will be a strong rival again in 2026 with new teams, cars, rules and line-ups. Mercedes favoured to be strong with new engine Mercedes have been tipped to set the pace next season having developed a new power-unit that many of their rivals believe will launch their recovery as a lead ing team. The team have been developing and testing for a long Can Norris stick to doing it his way?

period with major investment in the project and expect Kimi Antonelli, who shone in many parts of his rookie season, to rise and challenge George Russell. The cars will be lighter, smaller and more agile under the new regulations with the weight reduced by 30kg. They will also be shorter and slimmer. Mercedes will supply their own factory team and also McLaren, Williams and Alpine, while Red Bull and sister team Racing Bulls will run Red Bull Powertrains, their own develop ment following the break from Honda. Ferrari will run their own engines as always and will con tinue to supply Haas and power as serious contenders After a mixed 2025 season ended with one podium, but only 70 points, Audi – formerly Sauber – hope to become a serious mid field contender in 2026. They fin ished ninth ahead only of Alpine in the season just gone. Audi will have an unchanged driver line-up of Nico Hulkenberg, who started his 250th Grand Prix on Sunday, and Gabriel Bortoleto, while new boys Cadillac, bringing in much American cash and colour with the backing of GM, will rely on the experience of Valtteri Bottas and Sergio Perez. Verstappen will have a new Red Bull teammate after the pro motion of Isack Hadjar from Racing Bulls, following an out standing rookie season. His seat will be taken by 18-year-old Briton Arvid Lindblad alongside Liam Lawson. The era-ending switch to new cars was welcomed by many drivers, but notably by seven time champion Lewis Hamilton after a dismal debut season at Ferrari. Of his record 105 wins, only two have come since the end of 2021. Teammate Charles Leclerc said the team, without a drivers’ title since 2007, faced a “now or never” moment this win ter. AFP the new Cadillac team. Audi hope to join

L ANDO NORRIS recognised life would change as Formula One world champion, although he hoped to stay the same as a person, and an immediate sign was the decision made yesterday to race with the No. 1 on his McLaren next season.

that kind of thing. “And it’s not for me. It’s just for my mechanics, this is for my engineers. It’s the fact that they get to run with the No. 1 on the car, and I think it’ll mean a lot more to them than it does to me as a number, and for me that’s a lot more important.” Norris, whose breakfast of champions was an early morning McDonald’s after a night of partying that left his throat and voice slightly the worse for wear, said last week that his life would not change if he won the title but that was just words to relieve some of the stress before battle. Another immediate mark of his changed status became obvious when he went for a swim. “I was by the pool earlier, and there were a lot more people, I think, that came up to me than originally would have come up to me,” he said. “But look, it’s not going to change me, which for me is the most important thing. It’s not going to change my life in terms of how I live it, how I want to live it.” That said, he expected people to see him differently as a champion, rather than one of 20 drivers – or 22 next year. “People are going to know my face a little bit more, sadly, and they’re going to see my face and maybe just notice me a bit more. But apart from that, you know, my life’s the same. “I’m going to go and be with my friends, my family, go play golf, go play padel … nothing changes from that side.” – Reuters

ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix in a thre e-way battle at Yas Marina, that he was setting aside his familiar No. 4. “I actually had to decide today,” said the Briton, standing on a hotel balcony with the bright lights of Yas Marina reflected on the water behind him. “In a way, I wanted to keep No. 4, because I’m just happy with that and it goes well with my logo … but I will go with No. 1, because I have to. I have to.

The 26-year-old told Reuters Television , a day

after he clinched the title in the season

“It can be my only opportunity in my life that I get to do such a thing, and not many people in the world get to do

Lando Norris celebrates after finishing third to win the world championship title at the end of the Abu Dhabi Formula One Grand Prix at the Yas Marina Circuit on Sunday. – AFPPIC/REUTERSPIC

No deal imminent with PGA Tour: LIV CEO

LIV GOLF CEO Scott O’Neil has said informal con versations between the Saudi-funded circuit and the PGA Tour are continuing but any hope of end ing the sport’s longest-running civil war is not cur rently on the horizon. O’Neil maintains regular contact with PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp, a friend and former business school classmate, but said their communication has not brought any meaningful progress towards finalising the framework agreement the two cir cuits announced in June 2023 before either were in their current role. “The reality is we continue to have conversa tions, and Brian and I do have a relationship – we text, we talk relatively regularly,” O’Neil told Reuters during an interview from LIV Golf’s New York office. “We are not in any serious negotiation at this point. We both believe that there are opportunities

O’Neil is hopeful a decision on the matter could happen in the coming weeks. LIV’s initial bid to have its players earn world ranking points was unanimously rejected by the Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR) in October 2023, with a key concern said to be limited access for players to join a circuit that, barring injury, fea tured the same players all season. The OWGR also said at the time that LIV’s 54 hole format was an issue but one that was capable of being managed through an appropriate mathe matical formula. LIV has also since announced it will expand its tournament format to 72 holes in 2026. “We continue to have constructive dialogue,” said O’Neil. “We are hoping to get something done by the turn of the calendar (year) and we are still on that timeline. – Reuters

The divide has even captured the attention of US President Donald Trump, an avid golfer who was part of two meetings on the matter at the White House in February when there was opti mism that the schism between LIV Golf and the PGA Tour would soon be resolved. O’Neil said he still felt LIV Golf should “do some thing” with the PGA Tour but did not elaborate on what any sort of agreement would look like. He also did not give details on when, or if, the two sides plan to meet next, a stance he said he shared with Rolapp. “We both agreed that we are going to keep all that stuff between the two of us,” said O’Neil. “If there is ever anything to report we’ll report it.” When it comes to LIV’s ongoing bid for world ranking points, which are considered critical given the majors use them to help determine their fields,

to work together, and we both believe that there is plenty of space in golf. We at LIV Golf are intently focused on developing LIV Golf around the world.” LIV Golf, which held its inaugural event in June 2022, has shaken up the golf world like never before and, with the help of mega-money con tracts and lucrative purses, has lured several top names from the PGA Tour into its stable of players. LIV players include the likes of Bryson DeChambeau – considered golf’s greatest show man – and fellow major champions Jon Rahm, Dustin Johnson and Brooks Koepka. After a year of acrimony, the PGA Tour, Europe based DP World Tour and Saudi backers of LIV Golf announced in June 2023 a framework agreement to house their commercial operations in a new entity but have failed to reach a definitive agree ment.