While Lando Norris may still bear the tousled hair and impish grin of youth, no one in Formula One is in any doubt that, after only three years on the track, he is a contender ready to prove himself. If 2021 was a standout year for Norris, this season could mark his true coming of age.
In his McLaren team’s motorhome, Norris’s warm, easy laughter and engagement sit in contrast to the remarkable steely cool he exhibited last season and the ambition he holds for the future.
“Hopefully we are in a slightly quicker car this year,” he says, with a smile. “Now it is just about me trying to show everyone the best driver I can be, and that I am good enough to go up against Lewis and Max.”
After a season of high drama, controversy and a thrilling title fight between its two protagonists Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton, it was remarkable that Norris managed to make such an impression. He came sixth in the championship and finished on the podium four times but numbers do little justice to some of the performances. He was quicker than the Mercedes in Austria, prompting Hamilton to offer high praise. There was pole and so nearly a win in Russia, almost a pole in Spa and a mighty run at Monza where he was beaten only by his teammate, Daniel Ricciardo, over whom Norris largely had the edge all season.
It was impossible to ignore his skill and composure. Mixing it with the more experienced drivers at the front of the grid, Norris was entirely at ease. Former driver and now Sky Sports F1 commentator Martin Brundle recognises the British driver’s great leap forward. “Lando is the real deal,” he says. “Lando has gone from boy to man in the last few years on and off the track. He was sensational last year, could easily have won three – Sochi, Spa and Monza – with a little twist of luck.”
Not winning in Sochi was the hardest of them all. Leading from pole he controlled the race with aplomb and when Hamilton caught him he could find no way past, Norris handling the pressure like a seasoned pro. But with rain falling and four laps to go, it fell apart. Norris opted to stay out on slicks, while Hamilton pitted for wet tyres. The rain intensified and Hamilton’s choice proved correct as he took the win.
Norris was devastated, his emotions welling over as his first win slipped through his fingers.
Time and distance are great healers of course but it remains a hurt he cannot dismiss, and can only build on the experience. “A certain element of it I want to block off because it just doesn’t make me feel happy, it’s not like I can think about it and go: ‘Ahh, that was a good time,’” he says.
“It’s good that I learned things but it was just one race. It was not going to win me the championship or the team the championship. I have learned from it in that when I have a chance to go for a championship and it means even more, then I am ready for it.”
A championship tilt this season is highly unlikely but McLaren rate Norris enough to have extended his contract to the end of 2025 and he believes the team have everything in place to challenge in the next few years. On an upward curve for some time, the rebuilding at McLaren is showing results, they are stable financially and on an organisational level. This year’s car looks quick although they suffered with brake problems in the second test.
Their team principal, Andreas Seidl, at the helm for Porsche’s three consecutive wins at Le Mans between 2015 and 2017, has restructured the team such that they are already nipping at the heels of the leaders. Last year’s win for Ricciardo at Monza proved that given the chance they can execute flawlessly. If similar chances fall to Norris, there is every expectation he will exploit them.
Optimism is reflected in the buoyant atmosphere at McLaren, something Norris has cultivated since he joined them in 2019. There was inevitably criticism when he moved from the UK to Monaco this winter, in that it distanced him from the team but he says he is still nurturing the relationships with everyone in Woking.
“Recently I did a day-shift tour, went round the whole factory seeing everyone on the day shift. I wanted to see how everyone was doing,” he says. “One thing they talk about is when drivers didn’t do that. They didn’t feel a connection with the drivers who are going to use their work to try and win on track. For me it’s one of the most important things.”
McLaren expect even greater things when their new wind tunnel comes online next year, so further consolidation this season will be seen as another forward step. While for Norris, growing up in public is simply part of the journey on to greater things.
“Every year you learn something new and, like Lewis said, he has come back better than ever,” he says. “But there is more room for improvement for me than there is for him … So the best is still yet to come, to be the complete driver is the aim but I know it’s not an easy thing to do.”
