He appears smiling and charismatic. Like a boy with chiche new every time you get on your McLaren MCL38 of Formula 1which is not a toy, but Lando Norris live a dream come true. The 24-year-old Englishman achieved his first victory in the Máxima after 110 Grand Prix and the historic Woking team returned his joy. Five years passed since his debut, but he was patient and this Sunday he achieved glory.
He was born in Belgium on 11/13/1999 and has two nationalities, although he races under the British flag. Her father, Adam Norris, is a mechanical engineer, but built a fortune as a pension administration consultant. In 2010 he created his investment company Horatio Investments Ltd. His wealth is estimated at 200,000,000 pounds and occupy the position 501st among the richest in the UKaccording to some British media (The Times, Bristol Post and EssentiallySports). Without budget problems, Lando started karting at the age of seven, but he demonstrated something that money cannot buy: champion dough. In 2014, he won the Karting World Championship in the 125 cm3 category.
He arrived at the big circus after standing out in promotional categories. He won 46 races and five championships: MSA Formula Championship (2015), which is a Formula 4 that competes in England and Scotland; European Formula Renault, Northern European Formula Renault and Toyota Racing Series (2016), and European Formula 3 (2017). That year he was recruited by McLaren’s young driver program. In 2018 he was runner-up in Formula 2 and in 2019 debuted in F1. In his first year he finished eleventh in the championship. At the start of the 2020 season he achieved the first of his 16 podiums when he was third in Austriaon that occasion without an audience and in the midst of a strict protocol due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
In that year, Infobae was invited to a Zoom by McLaren and was able to talk with the British runner. A few minutes were allowed, but enough to have first-hand the concepts of one of the runners with the most future in the Máxima. “It’s strange because not long ago, that is, three or four years, F1 was a big dream. Something very far away, that I thought would take me longer to get to. It was difficult to imagine that at my age I was going to be racing my second year in the category. But I also think I worked hard and did everything necessary to get there,” Lando said.
“At the same time, it is difficult to know what I will look like in the future. It is difficult to imagine and think about what may happen in the future. But I do know one thing: as long as I am here, at McLaren and within F1, I will be happy,” she stressed.
Something that distinguishes him is his smile and the good vibes he transmits. “Well, I’m not always like that. Sometimes I also get angry and can be unhappy. I don’t think I’m different from many people. I think that I have my funny moments and my moments where I’m upset, frustrated or disappointed and I don’t laugh.. At an unspecified moment the last thing I want to make is a joke or be funny. There are also times when I am focused and I have to concentrate and do my job. Also, like everyone else, you have moments when you probably make jokes and want to have a good time,” he said.
He also detailed why he likes helping mechanics: “I like mechanics, but to be honest it’s not something I do all three days of activity. I would say most weekends after the race I try to stay and help out and do some things. During the weekend, it depends because we have our meetings. So sometimes, if our meeting lasts a long time, I don’t have time. But if we have a short meeting and we don’t have much to talk about and so on, then I try to help the mechanics. “I like being with them and having fun.”
His freshness and imprint contrasts with F1 policy, although he asserted that this affects him: “The most important thing is to do a good job on the track, I suppose I can be whoever I want and I can have fun behind the car. In the car I must concentrate on driving well and fast. Sometimes before going out on the track I make some jokes, I smile and it seems like I’m not concentrating, but it’s just a joke. I also spend a lot of time in the factory and with the engineers checking everything. Sometimes I make mistakes, like everyone else, even the best drivers in the category. But I work hard to try to avoid making mistakes with the car. I think that being a professional you can be who you are in F1.”
Norris is a faithful exponent of a breed that arrived in the category a few years ago. They are young people who usually compete in simulators and exploit their social networks. It is a group headed by their own Max Verstappen (26 years old) and Charles Leclerc (26). They add up Pierre Gasly (28), Lance Stroll (26), Esteban Ocon (28), George Russell (26) and Alex Albon (28). Several of them competed together since the karting days. Some with more talent and ability than others. But they all agree on something: they usually testify without a cassette and are always predisposed to people. They have an earthy air for the ironworkers. They make up the most important capital that F1 has for the future.
Regarding the virtual races or electronic games in which he usually participates with several of them, he assured that “I am terrible. But Max (Verstappen) is the best, he spent a lot of time playing. If we played Call of Duty, then I would do much better than him. And there I am much better than him.
But who is the best on the real track? “I don’t know, I don’t like making those kinds of comparisons. Until you are a partner of a driver and both are with the same car, you cannot measure yourself or know who is the best. But I do know that they are both very good pilots. George is an excellent pilot. But I think he showed his talent and what he can do in F1. And Max, everyone knows well, he can do and achieve whatever he wants. The most important thing is that we are very united and competitive people. The three of us are very friends. “Each one has their personality, they are both different, and I respect them a lot,” he responded.
He remains humble and affirms that McLaren did not improve because of him: “It is not my influence, but a team effort. They spent several years fighting and surely they got tired of trying alternatives (N. de la R: from 2015 to 2017 the partnership with Honda engines did not work out). So when you’re not in that position and you’re far away, it’s hard to motivate yourself and think. But they worked hard. They knew how to improve. “They found their way after difficult moments because all the drivers at McLaren want to win or be on the podium and score a lot of points.”
They must have passed 110 Grand Prix so that Norris could win. She is 24 years old and at one point she even joked about her drought. But that positive attitude was what allowed him to keep his morale high and he was not intimidated by the arrival of a younger and more promising driver like Oscar Piastri.
Lando managed to continue being the reference of McLaren and this Sunday he took advantage of the intervention of the safety car to be able to change the tires. He took to the track in front of the peloton and maintained the lead that he had already achieved after the stoppage of Verstappen in the pits. Afterwards he managed to preserve his difference and did not give the Dutchman any room to overtake.
He managed to beat the Dutch three-time world champion who was difficult with the hard tires. This mattered little to Norris, who after the race declared: “It was a long day and a tough race. I am very proud. I had a good pace all weekend. The strategy was good.” It was the first victory of McLaren In almost three years, since getting Daniel Ricciardo in Italy on September 12, 2021.
He did not forget all those who accompanied him in McLaren and maintained that “I have met many people who helped me on this path. It is a great effort for this team.” Lando reached his goal in Miami podium number 16. Add one pole positions and 6 lap records.
Although it had a special dedication: “I want to thank my parents”. That testimony emphasized the most important thing that Norris has and he remembered those people who accompanied him from a very young age, when he had a toy F1 car in hand and this Sunday he won for the first time over a real one.
