Lando Wins
The 2026 season on track didn’t start in the best way for Lando Norris, who, in the first three GPs of the season, has not yet managed to get on the podium. However, the McLaren Englishman can console himself with what happened last night at the Laureus World Sports Award – considered the equivalent of the Oscars for the world of sport – which were awarded in Madrid. The 2025 Formula 1 world champion surprisingly won the award in the category Breakthrough of the Year, which could be translated into Italian as ‘best revelation’.
Read more Marini charged up for Jerez: “I feel really fit”
Norris beat strong competition, which included French footballer Désiré Doué, Brazilian tennis player João Fonseca, Canadian basketball player Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, British darts phenomenon Luke Littler, and Chinese swimmer Yu Zidi. In the roll of honour, Norris succeeds two absolute top-level footballers like Lamine Yamal, winner in 2025, and Jude Bellingham, triumphant two years ago.
Etched into elite company 🤩
Congratulations to @LandoNorris as he wins the @LaureusSport World Breakthrough of the Year Award 👏#F1 #Laureus26 pic.twitter.com/WdNdzzyMxL
Read more How to win at Jerez: braking battles are crucial. And watch out for the ‘Pedrosa’ corner
— Formula 1 (@F1) April 20, 2026
A Roll of Honour with a lot of F1
Norris’s success reconnects a thread broken almost a decade ago between F1 and this category: the last driver to win as Breakthrough of the Year was Nico Rosberg in 2017, also thanks to the world title won a few months earlier by beating his then-teammate Lewis Hamilton. Going back in time, also elected Breakthrough of the Year at the Laureus Awards were Daniel Ricciardo (2015), Jenson Button (2010), Lewis Hamilton (2009) and Juan Pablo Montoya (2002); the awards, of course, always refer to what was achieved in the previous season. Finally, also in the motorsport field, the success achieved in this category by Marc Marquez in 2014, following his first world title in MotoGP.
Read more Hyundai IONIQ 3, immediately recognizable electric hatchback
