Zero podiums in the first three GPs as champion: Norris like Hamilton in 2009. And not only…

No podium for Lando

In the last GP preceding this long F1 spring break – imposed by the outbreak of the war in the Persian Gulf – we witnessed a partial resurrection of the McLaren team, after the difficulties experienced by the reigning world champion team in the first two GPs of the year. At Suzuka, Oscar Piastri secured a splendid second position under the checkered flag, after leading the Grand Prix for a long time, while Lando Norris – despite a difficult weekend conditioned by numerous technical problems – could still consider himself satisfied with fifth place overall.

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Illustrious precedents

In his first three races as world champion, however, Norris never managed to reach the podium, partly due to the greater speed and reliability of rival cars such as Ferrari and – above all – Mercedes. With his two fifths and one fourth place in three GPs, the Englishman from Bristol has ‘unlocked’ a negative statistic that hadn’t been seen in F1 for 17 years and which featured one of the idols of Norris’s youth, as well as his compatriot: Lewis Hamilton.

The current Ferrari representative, at the time also a McLaren driver, was in fact the last reigning world champion before Norris to miss the podium for the first three consecutive races. In Hamilton’s case, the drought in the 2009 season (the one following his first title win) lasted a long time, even until mid-season. However, it was interrupted in a special way with the victory in the Hungarian GP, which paved the way for the last nine races of that World Championship in which the future seven-time world champion redeemed himself with two wins and five podiums in total.

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From then on, even decidedly unfortunate and disappointing title defenses – like that of Sebastian Vettel in 2014 – still saw the title holder celebrate at least one podium finish in the first three GPs. Obviously, Nico Rosberg is not counted in this statistic, as he decided to hang up his helmet after winning the title in 2016. Going back in time, we also find the case of Michael Schumacher in 2005, off the podium in the first three GPs but then second in the fourth race of the year, at Imola. Schumacher had also missed the podium in the first three races two years earlier, in 2003: in this case, however, the Kaiser reacted extraordinarily and at the end of the year was able to celebrate his sixth career title, his fourth in a row. Even earlier, in 1998, the Canadian Jacques Villeneuve took 11 Grands Prix to regain a top-3 finish after the championship won the previous year in the infamous finale at Jerez de la Frontera.

A British ‘curse’

There is also a kind of curse that seems to affect British world champions in the year following their first World Championship win. In fact, no driver from the United Kingdom has ever won their first two career titles consecutively. Before Norris and Hamilton, Damon Hill, world champion in 1996 with Williams, also had a nightmare first season as reigning champion at the wheel of the Arrows: in his case, the only podium of the season (a historic second place) came only at the 11th GP. Jenson Button is an exception in this sense: after winning the title in 2009, he stood on the top step of the podium as early as the second GP of the following year, in Australia. At the end of the year, however, he too had to abdicate, finishing the World Championship in fifth position.

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