F1: LANDO NORRIS INTERVIEW
Lando’s grid penalty sours podium heroics that eclipsed his hero Lewis
LaNDo Norris’s slender shoulders have borne fresh comparison with Lewis Hamilton since he opened the season by becoming the youngest briton ever to stand on the podium.
In doing so here at the Red bull Ring on Sunday, the 20-year- old from Glastonbury eclipsed by two years the six-time world champion’s old record, set for the same team, McLaren, in 2007.
In truth, Norris has a giant march ahead of him before he scales even the foothills of Hamilton’s achievements. but the youngster emulated the older man yesterday in another way, albeit not one he would have chosen.
For, just like Hamilton in qualifying for the austrian Grand Prix a week ago today, Norris failed to slow for a yellow flag during first practice. He instead overtook alphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly, and was handed a three-place grid penalty for the Styrian Grand Prix tomorrow, on the same track where he finished third.
It was a case of down to earth with a bump for the happy, smiling, popular-inthe-garage Norris. We heard his natural enthusiasm as he crossed the line with a brilliant final, qualifyingstyle lap — the race’s fastest
— last week. out of breath, he screamed: ‘F*** yeah, boys.’ although averse to drink, he poured champagne over himself, his face mask full of the stuff.
The celebration afterwards? a call of Duty computer game in his hotel room — hardly James Hunt hedonism.
The £ 600,000- a- year driver has found himself shaken into something of a stocktake of his life in recent weeks by Hamilton’s promfunded, ulgation of the anti-racism cause. He was one of the 13 drivers to take a knee alongside his senior peer during the race build-up.
While Hamilton was born without a silver rattle, Norris’s father, adam, made a £200million fortune developing the pension wing of investment firm Hargreaves Lansdown. The boy went to Millfield, a school that produces sporting royalty. His karting career was lavishly though his academic results were lousy: not a GCSE to his name.
‘ I have been privileged since I was born,’ Norris told Sportsmail, sipping orange juice in his hotel room. ‘I am very thankful to my father and my family to be able to do what I am doing.
‘It is hard for me to know about people who have not been treated well. I don’t want to treat people badly. I try to be a normal human being and nice one.
‘I spoke to Lewis before I took the knee. I wasn’t sure what to do. I asked him if I had to go down on the left knee or the right.’
To deliver on his talent, Norris needs to add some savvy — and perhaps a little mettle — to his racing.
‘I spent the first half of last year just getting into it,’ he said of his respectable rookie campaign. ‘My mindset was just to finish the race.
‘ but even good drivers crash. Max Verstappen. Lewis sometimes. Daniel Ricciardo too. They make mistakes and they are the best in Formula one. Now I am willing to take more risks and be more aggressive.
‘ Lewis, being at Mercedes, is probably going to be the leading brit for a couple more years. but it is great to think George (Russell, at Williams) and I can be up there and inspire the young guys coming through.’