Born in Bristol and raised in Glastonbury to an English father and Belgian mother, Norris began competitive kart racing aged seven.

In 2024, Norris took his maiden career win at the Miami Grand Prix, repeating this feat in the Netherlands, Singapore and Abu Dhabi as he finished runner-up to Max Verstappen in the World Drivers' Championship.

As of the 2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Norris has achieved four race wins, nine pole positions, 12 fastest laps and 26 podiums in Formula One.

[citation needed] At the same time, Norris embarked on a part-time campaign in the BRDC British Formula 3 Championship and claimed four wins in eleven races.

In October he made a guest appearance in the final round of the European Formula 3 Championship at the Hockenheimring in preparation for the Macau Grand Prix in November.

The weekend following the Macau Grand Prix, Norris made his FIA Formula 2 debut with Campos Racing, replacing Ralph Boschung for the final round of the 2017 season at the Yas Marina Circuit.

[29] Prior to the season, Norris expressed that "[Charles Leclerc] has done it [in 2017] so if I want to beat or prove I'm just as a good [sic] then I'm going to have to win [the title as a rookie]", adding that he didn't think there was "any point in going for second or third".

He scored consistent points and podium finishes to hold the lead of the championship until the sixth round at the Red Bull Ring, when George Russell passed him in the standings.

Norris was contracted to drive for McLaren for the 2019 Formula One World Championship, partnering Carlos Sainz Jr.[37] He qualified eighth on his debut at the Australian Grand Prix and finished the race in twelfth place.

[51] Following this, Norris faced criticism over his remarks that Stroll "doesn't seem to learn"[52][53] and his perceived downplaying of Lewis Hamilton's achievement of most Grand Prix wins, describing it as meaning "nothing to him".

[59] He started from fourteenth place after a five-place grid penalty for failing to respect yellow flags in qualifying, but recovered to finish eighth and recorded the fastest lap of the race.

Norris was issued a grid penalty and started ninth at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix for failing to enter the pits during a red flag period in qualifying, a sanction he criticised as "unfair".

Norris started seventeenth at the Belgian Grand Prix with a power unit components penalty and failed to score points, finishing twelfth.

He was demoted from a points finish at the Canadian Grand Prix with a penalty for "unsportsmanlike behaviour" after slowing excessively whilst entering the pit lane to create a gap to Piastri ahead.

[86] McLaren brought upgrades to Norris's MCL60 for the Austrian Grand Prix;[87] team principal Andrea Stella commented that "pretty much the entire car" had been redesigned.

[96] Four consecutive podiums began with the Singapore Grand Prix, where he held off the Mercedes duo of Hamilton and George Russell and finished less than a second behind race winner Carlos Sainz Jr., his former McLaren teammate.

He led much of the United States Grand Prix having qualified second and passed Charles Leclerc at the start, but was ultimately overtaken by Verstappen and Hamilton.

[citation needed] Norris failed to set a competitive qualifying time at the Mexico City Grand Prix, starting seventeenth, but recovered to finish the race fifth.

[103] For the main race, he qualified fourth, overtook Fernando Alonso and gained on Sergio Pérez in the pits to finish second,[104] his fifteenth Formula One podium.

A subsequent safety car allowed Norris to pit and retain his lead, which he held ahead of Verstappen at the restart to claim his maiden Grand Prix victory after 110 races and his 16th podium finish,[106] tying the record for the most podiums before taking a first win, a record he now shares with Patrick Depailler, Mika Häkkinen, Eddie Irvine and Jean Alesi.

[111] Norris failed to score a podium at Monaco, finishing fourth behind teammate Oscar Piastri,[112] and in Austria, where he sparred with Verstappen before making race-ending contact with him.

[113] Norris achieved further podiums at the British Grand Prix, finishing in third following botched strategy,[114] and Hungary, where he took pole position but lost out at turn one, giving his teammate Oscar Piastri the lead; after strategy prioritised him first, McLaren invoked team orders on Norris, ordering him to slow down to give Piastri the lead and eventual race win.

[122] Norris recovered to fourth after passing Verstappen, and the combined results of him and teammate, race winner Piastri, allowed McLaren to take the lead of the Constructors' Championship for the first time since 2014.

Norris took his fifth pole position of the season at the Singapore Grand Prix and set a new qualifying lap time record at the Marina Bay Street Circuit.

Following a red flag thanks to a crash involving Franco Colapinto's remaining Williams and a wall, and Sainz's error soon afterward, Norris lost more positions on the safety car restart, falling down to a lowly seventh.

[128] Ahead of the Las Vegas Grand Prix, Norris appeared to concede that any realistic hopes of taking the drivers' championship away from Verstappen had ended, though insisted his season had still been good.

[136] Norris's error and strong Ferrari results in Qatar helped reduce McLaren's lead in the constructors' championship to second placed Ferrari to 21 points heading into the final round of the 2024 season at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, and reduced Norris's advantage over Charles Leclerc for second place in the drivers' championship to just eight points heading into the same event.

[138] Norris joined United Autosports for the 2018 24 Hours of Daytona in the IMSA SportsCar Championship, alongside Fernando Alonso and Philip Hanson.

[143] Norris competed in the 2020 24 Hours of Le Mans Virtual with Redline in the LMP2 class alongside Verstappen, as well as esports drivers Atze Kerkhof and Greger Huttu.

[145] Norris raised over US$12,000 for the COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund, in support of the World Health Organization, during an online live streaming event on Twitch in March 2020.