Boy racers Britain’s grand prix prodigies

19 years, 124 days (Australia 2019)

20 years, 53 days (Australia 2000)

20 years, 193 days (Switzerland 1952)

21 years, 228 days (Britain 1959)

21 years, 252 days (Switzerland 1951)

mula Three titles on their CVS, but their upbringings and personalities are diametrically opposed.

Hamilton grew up in a council house in Stevenage, while Bristolborn Norris, who attended Millfield School in Somerset and whose father, Adam, has made a £200mil- fortune in financial services, has seldom wanted for financial backing for his dreams. Where Hamilton has always exuded a certain bravado – he famously told Ron Dennis as a 10-year-old “I want to be racing your cars one day” – Norris has remained the understated type, whose first interviews as an F1 test driver were notable for their timidity more than anything else.

Norris lies second in this year’s F2 standings, just 18 points adrift of compatriot George Russell. His speedy rise attracted Toro Rosso, who made an inquiry earlier this summer about taking him on loan.

Mclaren, for all their recent struggles, would not hear of it. “We believe Lando is an exciting talent, full of potential, who we have very deliberately kept within the Mclaren fold,” Zak Brown, the chief executive, said yesterday. And yet such moves are rarely dictated by ability alone. While Norris has proved he is worthy of usurping Vandoorne, who has qualified dead last for the past two grands prix, he also carries cachet as the only British driver confirmed for the 2019 grid besides Hamilton.

Mclaren have been dealt an incalculable commercial blow by the departure of Alonso, a headline attraction for sponsors, and need a figure around whom they can plausibly shape their future. In the circumstances, the leap of faith to blood Norris is about the best statement they could have made.

Posting a childhood picture of himself spinning around in a gokart, Norris wrote: “If I could go back and tell this guy he would be a Mclaren F1 driver in 2019, he wouldn’t believe me. Amazing opportunity. Dream come true.”