Lando Norris, the winner of the 2025 Formula One World Drivers’ Championship (WDC), has been named the winner of the 2026 Best Driver Award at the ESPYs. The McLaren Formula One driver was announced as the winner during the live show on Wednesday.
Norris, an 11-time Formula One Grand Prix winner, was chosen for the award against three other highly-talented nominees, all of whom are having world-class seasons in their respective divisions. The other nominees were Kimi Antonelli (F1), Alex Palou (INDYCAR), and Tyler Reddick (NASCAR).
The McLaren Formula One driver is just the fifth British-born driver to win the ESPY Best Driver Award, and joins Max Verstappen (2023, 2024, 2025), Lewis Hamilton (2017, 2021), Michael Schumacher (2002 and 2005), and Nigel Mansell (1993) as F1 drivers to secure the award.
This year marked the first nomination for Norris in the ‘Best Driver Award’ category, becoming the first driver since NASCAR Champion Kyle Larson (2022) to win the award in their first nomination. Jeff Gordon (1996), Tony Stewart (2003), Dale Earnhardt, Jr. (2004), and Ryan Hunter-Reay (2013) also won the award in their first nomination.
To win the award, Norris triumphed in what ended up being a fantastic championship battle between himself, McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri (who was nominated for the award last season) and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, which came down to the last race of the season. Norris won the title over Verstappen by just two points.
Of Norris’ 11 Grand Prix victories, seven came in 2025 – Melbourne, Monaco, Hungary, Silverstone, Hungaroring, Mexico City, and Sao Paulo. The 26-year-old driver hasn’t been on the top step of the podium since Round 21 of 2025.
Kimi Antonelli is a second-year Formula 1 driver for Mercedes, who at the young age of 19, is leading the Formula 1 World Driver’s Championship. Alex Palou is a four-time NTT INDYCAR Series champion for Chip Ganassi who is dominating the division and looks well on his way to collect his fifth title in 2026. Tyler Reddick, the sole nominee from the world of NASCAR, is the DAYTONA 500 winner this season. The 23XI Racing driver won the first three races of the season and is in contention for the regular-season championship.
This is the fourth straight season where a driver from Formula 1 has clinched the Best Driver Award at the ESPYs. Kyle Larson (2002) was the last driver to win the award from NASCAR, and Ryan Hunter-Reay (2014) was the last driver to win the award from INDYCAR.
Despite a whopping 23 nominations over the years, the most recent of which was Matt Hagan in 2024, a driver from NHRA has never won the award.
