LANDO REVEALS MUM’S JOY AT F1 CALL

HAVE you heard about the grand prix driver who shares a flat to save on the bills? Or about the multimillionaire’s son whose most expensive gift to himself is an airbrush for which he saved up? Meet Lando Norris, who arrived for work as a confirmed Formula One racer with a few pennies to rub together at the start of a career that could make him as rich as Croesus. While Lewis Hamilton will bank £40million a year on his new Mercedes contract, the 18-year-old has agreed a three-season deal with McLaren worth £500,000 annually. News of his elevation from

Formula Two title contender and McLaren reserve driver to a race seat for the 2019 season — starting in Melbourne in March — was broken to him by chief executive Zak Brown only three days ago at the Italian Grand Prix. ‘My dad was with me, but otherwise I had to keep it quiet until it was announced, and then I got to tell everyone, including my mum,’ revealed Norris (right), who will partner 23-year-old Spaniard Carlos Sainz of Renault. ‘When mum found out, she was crying. She’s very proud. It has been a long time — 11 years — of me travelling and not seeing her much. ‘So for her to know that I’ve now got to where I wanted to be makes her very happy.’ A tide of commercial and media interest may sweep over Norris’s head but for the moment he can relish the simple pleasures of life, such as his daily breakfast of Weetabix and full-fat

milk. His family, father Adam, mother Cisca, elder brother Oli, younger sisters Flo and another Cisca, live in Glastonbury, Somerset, but he shares a flat with Formula Three driver Sacha Fenestraz in Guildford, Surrey, less than 10 miles from the McLaren factory in Woking. Norris admits he was totally uninterested in his lessons at Millfield School. But he did not take to games either and hid on the wing in rugby so as not to get injured. Finally, he nails one canard: that his name is derived from the Star Wars character Lando Calrissian. He says it is simply a name his mother liked.