Aside from F2 in 2018, Lando Norris won every karting and single-seater championship he competed in on his first attempt. It’s no wonder he joined the McLaren Young Driver Programme in 2017, and stepped up to Formula 1 with the team in 2019.
| Full Name | Lando Norris |
| Nationality | British |
| Date of Birth | 13th November 1999 |
| First Race | 2019 Australian Grand Prix |
| First Win | – |
| Wins | 3 |
| Poles | 8 |
| Podiums | 25 |
| Fastest Laps | 11 |
Lando Norris was born in Bristol, England. Norris became interested in motorsport at an early age. Initially, his interest was in motorcycles, until his dad, one of the top 600 richest people in Britain, took him to Clay Pigeon to watch a round of the British Super 1 Championship. After immediately wanting to try his hand at karting, Lando got his own kart and took pole position for the first national event which he entered, aged just seven. He remains the youngest driver to have taken pole at a national meeting.
Norris went on to compete in the Super 1 Championship in 2010 and won the Formula Kart Stars championship in 2012. At thirteen, Norris claimed a multitude of titles in one year, including the World Karting Championships, the WSK Euro Series and the CIK-FIA European title. In 2014, he competed in the CIK-FIA KF World Championship, where he became the youngest-ever karting world championship winner.
The Brit then moved from karts to single-seaters, finishing third in the Ginnetta Junior Championship. Signing with Carlin Motorsport in 2015, Norris took the all new MSA Formula series by storm, with a bucket-load of poles and wins. He made further guest appearances in the Formula 4 Championship and the Italian Formula 4 Championship, taking another handful of podium finishes.
More championships followed in 2016, as Norris took the Toyota Racing Series New Zealand Championship, the Eurocup Formula 2.0 title and the Formula Renault 2.0 Northern European Cup. He also competed in half of the British Formula 3 Championship with Carlin, in which he finished eighth overall. He was awarded the esteemed McLaren Autosport BRDC Award at the end of the year.
He made his European F3 debut at the final round of the 2016 season, and went on to compete in the series full time in 2017. With eight pole positions, nine wins and nineteen podium finishes from the thirty races, Norris won the title with Carlin, finishing 53 points ahead of his nearest rival.
After appearing at the season-ending F2 race in Abu Dhabi in 2017, Norris took a full-time seat in the series for 2018. He took pole position, set the fastest lap and won the first race of the season in Bahrain. That would be his only pole and victory of the year, but nine podium finishes throughout the year saw him remain in contention for the title until the closing stages, ultimately finishing as runner-up to George Russell. He also made an appearance at the 2018 Daytona 24 hour race, where he teamed up with Fernando Alonso and Philip Hanson in the United Autosports car to finish thirteenth in class.
Norris was signed to the McLaren Young Driver Programme in 2017, and got his first taste of Formula 1 in a mid-season test at the Hungaroring in August that year. He was later announced as the test and reserve driver for the team for the 2018 season. After making his first official F1 appearance in Free Practice for the 2018 Belgian Grand Prix, Norris was announced as a McLaren driver for the 2019 F1 season in August 2018.
NORRIS IN 2019
Lando Norris recently admitted that he’d proven himself wrong after doubting he’d be good enough for Formula 1 ahead of his debut. You wouldn’t have known that from his maiden weekend though, as he out-qualified his team-mate and reached Q3. Although he failed to score in the Australian Grand Prix, finishing twelfth, he’d go on to secure McLaren’s best result in over a year with sixth place in the Bahrain Grand Prix. He finished sixth again at the Red Bull Ring, but unlike his team-mate would not break in to the top five at any race this year.
Norris recorded his first of six DNFs in 2019 at the Chinese Grand Prix, after being bumped into by Daniil Kvyat on the opening lap. He’d go on to crash with Lance Stroll in Spain, but his other four retirements were all out of his hands – including his agonising stoppage just before the finish line at the Belgian Grand Prix.
Norris won the McLaren qualifying battle in 2019, albeit by the slimmest of margins, and recorded only one Q1 exit this season, which came at Hockenheim. He also gave McLaren their best qualifying result of the year with fifth on the grid in France. Despite qualifying ahead of Sainz regularly, he was often unable to stay ahead on Sunday afternoons, scoring only 34% of the team’s points. Norris was the only driver who didn’t finish where he started at any race this year. He lost positions nine times, and finished higher than where he started six times. Norris ended the season with a streak of three consecutive points finishes, securing him eleventh in the Drivers’ Championship. Read more: Lando Norris’ 2019 F1 Season In Statistics.
NORRIS IN 2020
Lando Norris raced more laps than any other driver this season, with his retirement at the Eifel Grand Prix his only non-finish of the year – as well as one of only four occasions on which he failed to score. He earned the nickname ‘Last Lap Lando’ in the opening races of the season. On the final lap at the Austrian Grand Prix, Norris set the Fastest Lap, closing the gap to Lewis Hamilton, who had been handed a five-second time penalty. The McLaren driver’s efforts saw him stand on the podium for the first time in his career. One week later, Norris’ last lap antics earned him more plaudits, overtaking a struggling Sergio Perez at the final corner to take fifth place.
Norris and McLaren team-mate Carlos Sainz were the most closely matched team-mates in 2020. Norris recorded 48% of the team’s tally of points (well up from 34% in 2019), and out-qualified Sainz on pace eight times in their sixteen fair battles this season. On average, the duo were separated by only 0.017 seconds per sector in qualifying. Read more: Lando Norris’ 2020 F1 Season In Statistics.
The Norris and Sainz partnership will be split up in 2021, with the Brit instead having a new challenge in Daniel Ricciardo. With a switch to Mercedes power, McLaren may be even closer to the front of the pack. Norris’ performances relative to Ricciardo will be one of the more intriguing storylines in 2021.
LANDO NORRIS’ F1 RECORD
| Year | Team | Final Position | Points Scored | Wins | Poles | Podiums |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | McLaren | 11th | 49 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2020 | McLaren | 9th | 97 | 0 | 0 | 1 |