Lando Norris gets more worried about driving on public roads in a normal car than he does getting behind the wheel of a Formula 1 car.
The Brit makes a living out of strapping himself into a machine made of carbon fibre and driving it to the absolute limit at high speeds. But that's nothing to him compared to a lazy drive down a motorway or on a B-road – which Norris finds much more nerve-wracking.
He admitted as much as he appeared on the Made With Love podcast, as a guest of Olympic champion diver Tom Daley. The McLaren star also admitted that he failed his driving theory test on the first attempt, before passing second time and nailing his practical assessment.
Norris said: "When I started, I struggled because I find it more scary driving on the road than I do in Formula 1. More people, they drive the opposite direction, you feel like most people probably shouldn't have a licence.
"I get scared with that so I'm more scared driving on a road because I don't trust the people that I'm around than I do when I'm on a racetrack, I feel much more at home and safer there."
As strange as it sounds, Norris is not the only F1 driver who is much more comfortable racing at high speeds than on normal public highways. Lewis Hamilton admitted last year that he much prefers to be on a race track than busy roads.
The seven-time world champion said, while driving in an interview: "I just think I find it stressful. This is now stressful for me. This road is crazy. So much going on here. Look, we're on these roads, anything can happen."
As for Norris, he is so used to the dangers of racing having started so young. He explained that his mother had tried to turn him on to horse riding, but he never found a passion for it as he was scared of being so high up – plus, he had already caught the motorsport bug.
He told Daley: "I loved motorbikes. I love MotoGP, my hero is Valentino Rossi and he's the guy which inspired me to get into racing and to start on motorbikes and get into motorsport as a general. I had my first quad bike when I was four years old for my birthday.
"It was the first time I got on something with an engine and wheels, and my dad sold it shortly after without telling me because it was getting too dangerous, and I was going on two wheels and he didn't want me to hurt myself. So, he sold it, said it got stolen, lied to me. Somehow it was safer to get a motorbike, so I think for my sixth birthday I got a motorbike, and I loved it."
