diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index d14bf0d4c9af..86255b523c41 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@
 
 - "You miss 100 percent of the chances you don't take. — Wayne Gretzky" — Michael Scott
 - [react] feat: Add @sentry/react package (#2631)
+- [core] feat: Remove normalization of contexts (#2649)
 
 ## 5.16.1
 
diff --git a/packages/core/src/baseclient.ts b/packages/core/src/baseclient.ts
index 8052e6e91605..60d31c54a640 100644
--- a/packages/core/src/baseclient.ts
+++ b/packages/core/src/baseclient.ts
@@ -289,7 +289,6 @@ export abstract class BaseClient<B extends Backend, O extends Options> implement
    * Normalized keys:
    * - `breadcrumbs.data`
    * - `user`
-   * - `contexts`
    * - `extra`
    * @param event Event
    * @returns Normalized event
@@ -313,9 +312,6 @@ export abstract class BaseClient<B extends Backend, O extends Options> implement
       ...(event.user && {
         user: normalize(event.user, depth),
       }),
-      ...(event.contexts && {
-        contexts: normalize(event.contexts, depth),
-      }),
       ...(event.extra && {
         extra: normalize(event.extra, depth),
       }),
diff --git a/packages/core/test/lib/base.test.ts b/packages/core/test/lib/base.test.ts
index c3aa8a62f08f..ac0387f3f546 100644
--- a/packages/core/test/lib/base.test.ts
+++ b/packages/core/test/lib/base.test.ts
@@ -467,7 +467,7 @@ describe('BaseClient', () => {
       });
       expect(TestBackend.instance!.event!).toEqual({
         breadcrumbs: [normalizedBreadcrumb, normalizedBreadcrumb, normalizedBreadcrumb],
-        contexts: normalizedObject,
+        contexts: fourLevelsObject,
         event_id: '42',
         extra: normalizedObject,
         timestamp: 2020,
@@ -512,7 +512,7 @@ describe('BaseClient', () => {
       });
       expect(TestBackend.instance!.event!).toEqual({
         breadcrumbs: [normalizedBreadcrumb, normalizedBreadcrumb, normalizedBreadcrumb],
-        contexts: normalizedObject,
+        contexts: fourLevelsObject,
         event_id: '42',
         extra: normalizedObject,
         timestamp: 2020,