Lando Norris has revealed that George Russell is 'giddy' with excitement after being named the bookmakers' favourite to win the 2026 F1 Drivers' Championship title. The Norfolk-born racer is well-placed for a successful season after Mercedes enjoyed a strong opening test in Montmelo.

Last year, Russell put together the most impressive season of his F1 career, winning two races and finishing fourth in the standings. However, he was forced to watch on as his close friend Norris pipped Max Verstappen and Oscar Piastri to a maiden World Championship crown.

Now, Russell senses that his time may have come. "I spoke to George and Alex the other day because we played padel together," Norris explained after the first pre-season test at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.

"We all came into F1 at the same time, and it (Norris' title) has created more hunger for them, especially for George, because he is the bookies' favourite. He is all a bit giddy at the moment, and that is a great thing to see."

If Mercedes' 2026 challenger is as strong as some expect, Norris and Verstappen will do well to challenge Russell for the crown this year, but the five-time Grand Prix winner welcomes the fight with his two rivals if the opportunity arises.

"I'd love for it to turn out that way," he said, addressing a potential fight with four-time world champion Verstappen. "I do want to go head-to-head with Max, and obviously, Lando had a great season last year. But no, [being title favourite] doesn't add any more pressure.

"Probably the fans and people were expecting, you know, to potentially be Mercedes versus McLaren because there was a lot of anticipation that Mercedes would clearly have the best power unit.

"But it seems like the other power unit manufacturers have done a good job and we know that Red Bull have always had an amazing car, even through the years of dominance of Mercedes it was their engine that was letting them down, not their car. And we obviously know how good Max is.

"So I think he's very much going to be in the fight this year and that is great. You obviously wish that you'd have a slightly easier time of it. But it should never be easy, and if you're going to win, you want to have fought for it and won it fair and square on track."