Norris seeking to become latest member of ultra-rare F1 club

Of the 34 drivers to become F1 world champion, just five of them managed to claim their first grand prix victory in the same season they became champion. 

It is a feat Lando Norris is aiming to achieve in 2024, having taken his first F1 win in Miami, and is 52 points behind Max Verstappen with 180 points left up for grabs and six rounds remaining to overhaul the Red Bull. 

Should Norris do so, he will become just the sixth driver, and first in 42 years to achieve the feat as well becoming Britain's 11th world champion. 

Of course, his McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri also has a chance of completing the feat, but he is 94 points behind Verstappen and some 42 behind Norris.

The table below shows the five world champions to have won their first grand prix and world title in the same season, and the article continues after it. 

The second time around

Interestingly though, the second season for a driver after their first grand prix win is nearly 2.5 times more likely to produce a world championship than doing both in the same year.

Those to have followed their first-season win with a second-season title include F1's most unique world champion - although he would never know it. 

Jochen Rindt was killed in practice for the 1970 Italian Grand Prix at Monza, after brake failure for the Parabolica pitched his Lotus in the guardrail. 

Rindt was not wearing the full allocation of seatbelts and submarined down into the cockpit, suffering fatal throat injuries. 

He had 45 points to his name, with nearest challenger Jacky Ickx eventually finishing on 40, and actually being relieved to have finished second to the late Rindt, F1's only posthumous world champion.