NORRIS JOINS MCLAREN

WHERE: WOKING WHEN: SEPTEMBER 3 Whether it was the sheer driving talent or the nine Weetabix he eats each day, Lando Norris was a man on a mission in 2018 and in September, he realised a life-long goal of becoming a Formula 1 driver with Mclaren.

Having been a junior with the team since 2017, a pair of FP1 outings at Spa and Monza pushed his agenda over the line and the Woking team couldn’t turn down the 19-yearold, who had been linked with a move away to Toro Rosso.

He also led the first half of the Formula 2 season and helped British squad Carlin to the teams’ championship, although he missed out on the drivers’ crown thanks to a slight dip in performance in the second half of the season, and the resurgent form of eventual champion George Russell. This year may have not been perfect in terms of F2, but in just his fifth season racing cars, he achieved what he had always set out to do. He has the difficult task of beating team-mate Carlos Sainz, and being a junior driver hasn’t always been positive (read Kevin Magnussen, Stoffel Vandoorne). But Norris has met adversity and conquered it in his short career, and there’s a reason Mclaren chose him over Vandoorne and others in the F1 driver market.