LANDO NORRIS
AGE 21 | SILVERSTONE F1 STARTS 3 | SILVERSTONE BEST F1 FINISH 5TH (2020 BRITISH GP) | 2021 CHAMPIONSHIP POS 4TH (101 POINTS)
After nine races in the 2021 Formula 1 season, the top British driver in Autosport’s driver rating averages for this campaign so far is not Lewis Hamilton – even with his three victories and title aspirations. It’s Mclaren star Lando Norris. The 21-year-old ended 2020 on a high. Last year he scored his first F1 career podium and best championship finishing position (ninth), but his run to fifth and best-of-the-rest in Abu Dhabi was essentially faultless. And he started 2021 in much the same way – even managing to go one place better with fourth in the Bahrain season-opener as Sergio Perez struggled early on for Red Bull.
The difference this time around has been Mclaren’s battle with Ferrari over third place in the constructors’championship, which the orange squad is seeking to defend this year. It may still be quite a way from the era-defining scraps these two illustrious squads have enjoyed throughout F1’s history, but it has added a fascinating 2021 subplot.
Early on, Norris was delivering excellent race results, but losing out to Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc in qualifying. After going forwards while Leclerc fell back in Bahrain, Norris blew a chance to take a sensational top result in qualifying at Imola through a track limits violation, but then did not miss the opportunity to seize the podium place Leclerc had all but sealed when the Emilia Romagna race was restarted.
At Imola, Mclaren ordered new signing Daniel Ricciardo to let Norris by, a decision that paid off handsomely. The incumbent has generally had the upper hand over his new team-mate – and by some margin – so far this year, with Ricciardo still struggling to gel with the MCL35M and confidently take it to where Norris has shown it can reach. This was best demonstrated in Norris’s superb run to third at Monaco, aided it must be said by misfortune striking down Leclerc and Valtteri Bottas, where he lapped his team-mate. This followed the only real down note of Norris’s season – where he was eighth in Spain after damaging his car in Q3 and making little progress in the race, and where he also went too far defending against former team-mate Carlos Sainz Jr.
But since then, he’s either been fifth – Mclaren’s maximum result with all the‘class A’runners finishing – or third. But what has really stood out lately is Norris’s ability and confidence to disrupt things for F1’s leading squads. Whether this was heading Perez early on in Portugal and keeping him from the lead fight or doing likewise to Hamilton last time out in Austria.
When Autosport asks if Norris feels like he’s driving better than he did in 2020, he’s unequivocal:“100% I’m doing better this year than
I did last year,”he replies.“i think I had moments last year when I was doing as well as I have done this year. But just more inconsistently. I would have [a good one], but then follow it up with a not so strong one or just make some silly mistakes and things. I don’t think there’s been any missed opportunities anywhere [this year].
“Maybe in qualifying and whatever [where] I could have been one or two positions ahead, like in Imola and things like that. But in terms of race performance, there’s never been anything big.
“I’m happy with how I’ve been doing. I don’t think I ever get ahead of myself and get too confident or too cocky or anything like that. I always want more, so I’m never satisfied with what I’ve done. I always believe there’s potential to do better in myself and everything.”
Norris, who puts his 2021 gains down to focusing more with his engineers and spending“less time chatting and having fun”, heads to Silverstone feeling the British race will be“a bit in the unknown”for Mclaren, where the downforce-dependent, high-speed layout will test its package very differently to the events just gone. But there’s nothing to suggest it should be expecting a particularly bad weekend, and Norris also reckons“we’re doing better in tracks we didn’t do particularly well at before, and we’re doing worse at what are normally our better tracks”.
Mclaren performed very strongly on the Monaco and Baku street tracks and around the short, power-hungry Red Bull Ring. There, its excellent straightline speed and traction kept Norris out of Hamilton’s reach for 19 laps, leading to the world champion complimenting“great driver, Lando”. When asked for his response to those words after taking third last time out, Norris’s reply was revealing.“it was like it was the first time I’ve really raced against him,”norris explained.“you get to learn how he drives and how he races. And how he approaches things and when there are risks taken and things like that.
“As much as I appreciate the kind words it’s not like he was driving perfectly. There were still times he ran wide or made a mistake. It’s not like they’re not raceable. You kind of get there and when you have the car to perform and do well, you realise you have a chance against them. It’s hard to ever say that until you’re actually racing against them and your car is there and you’re going head-to-head. Normally, they’re way too far ahead of me so… It was cool.”
Norris’s words are always worth listening to. When he crossed the line in the Austrian GP to take his fourth F1 career podium, he declared himself“not happy”at missing second as a result of his penalty. Perhaps this best represents what Norris is right now: a driver going places and helping his team on its path back to big success.
LANDO NORRIS
“I DON’T THINK I EVER GET AHEAD OF MYSELF OR GET TOO COCKY. I’M NEVER SATISFIED WITH WHAT I’VE DONE”