As one of the most popular and likable characters on the Formula 1 grid, Lando Norris has taken the motorsport world by storm. From his contagious laughter to brutal honesty, the 22-year-old McLaren driver has everything it takes to be the face of Formula 1 for decades to come.
The British-Belgian racing driver was born in Bristol and races under the British flag. Being sponsored by McLaren from an early age, this young driver is following in the footsteps of Sir Lewis Hamilton and is destined for greatness.
Having competed in a number of different motorsport championships over the years, Lando has reached the pinnacle of the sport and has recently signed one of the largest F1 contracts to secure his place on the grid till 2025. To learn more about this legend in the making, here are 10 fast facts about Lando Norris:
10 Impressive Junior Career
Lando started his racing career with a distinct interest in motorcycle racing. His attention quickly moved to open-wheel racing as he saw his brother compete at the local kart track. Lando developed a passion for the sport and began his professional career in 2014 by entering the Ginetta Junior Championship.
In 2015, he was offered a seat by Carlin to race in the MSA Formula Championship. Lando impressed scouts and industry talent managers by claiming the championship in his first season. He then moved on to Formula 4, Formula Renault, British Formula 3, and the Formula 3 European Championship.
9 Raced For Carlin In Formula 2
Lando secured a seat for the FIA Formula 3 European Championship with Carlin Racing. This iconic development team has been a rite of passage for many F1 drivers, including Sebastian Vettel, Carlos Sainz, and even Nico Rosberg.
During his time with Carlin, Lando managed to win the F3 Championship in a dominant 2017 season. This season saw him take the top step 9 times, along with 8 pole positions, 8 fastest lap awards, and 20 podiums. This helped secure him a role as McLaren’s test driver for the following year.
8 Idolized Lewis Hamilton
As a British racing driver, Lando Norris idolized the likes of Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton. This shows you how young of a driver Lando is as we are so used to hearing older names like Fangio, Senna, and even Schumacher.
Despite his adoration for Lewis, Lando shocked British fans through his support for Max Verstappen during the 2021 season. While this may have upset many people across the United Kingdom, it’s understandable due to the friendship Lando and Max must have built during their Junior careers.
7 Races As Number 4
One of the most notable parts of a driver’s image is their number. Many people may not know this, but choosing your own number is only a recent development in F1. However, Lando’s favorite number was already taken, so he decided to go with the number 4.
This ended up working well for Lando as he used his number to create his personal logo. This makes him one of the most unique drivers on the grid today. This helped build and launch an individual brand for Lando, similar to what Lewis Hamilton did in his early years at Mercedes.
6 Grew Up With Other F1 Drivers
Lando may be a young driver, but he came up with quite a few other F1 drivers. During Lando’s karting and junior career, he drove in the same competitions as Alex Albon, George Russell, and even Max Verstappen.
This may surprise many people, as Max managed to fly his way into Formula 1 at the age of 17, an age that is now banned due to some of his more “youthful” tactics on track. Despite this, Lando entered F1 directly through McLaren and was paired with Carlos Sainz for his rookie year.
5 Bromance With Carlos Sainz
Lando started his F1 career at McLaren in 2019 where he was partnered with Carlos Sainz. Although Carlos did have some experience in F1, he was also new to the team, having moved from Renault at the end of the 2018 season.
The chemistry between both the drivers was evident both on and off the track. Unlike many other driver pairings, Lando and Carlos never got in each other’s way and developed a genuine friendship off the track. This became a gold mine for the McLaren marketing department as Carlando took over social media.
4 Rejected Red Bull
Although Lando has not managed to secure an F1 win yet, he did come incredibly close in Russia during the 2021 season. What makes this even more impressive is that he did this in a McLaren that was clearly the third or fourth-fastest car of the weekend.
Impressive drives like this helped secure him a number of offers from massive F1 teams such as Red Bull and Mercedes. In classic Lando fashion, he made it abundantly clear that he had no intentions of leaving McLaren and signed one of the biggest F1 contracts on the grid today.
3 Co-Owns An E-Sports Team
While many F1 drivers may stick to racing on the track, Lando has taken his talents digital as well. Accelerated during the pandemic, Lando partnered with a few digital creators to create Quadrant. This e-sports team quickly became one of the leading F1 e-sports teams on YouTube and Twitch.
Despite many other young F1 drivers also playing the F1 game during the pandemic, Lando utilizes his charm and talents to create something bigger than himself and brought huge amounts of awareness to F1 creators on YouTube such as Aarav Amin, Steve Alvarex Brown, Niran Yesufu, and Maria Bish.
2 He Has His Own Kart Brand
Just like many other Formula 1 drivers, Lando Norris started his career by karting. While many other drivers quickly forget about this part of their history, Lando double-downed to create his very own brand of kart.
This brand, named after himself, quickly took off among his younger fans and became the fastest-selling kart in the United Kingdom. The LN racing kart is by no means cheap and has a starting price of over $4,000.
1 F1's Most Popular Driver
Although we may all be in awe of the legends in the sport, Lando Norris has managed to gain insane amounts of popularity during his time in Formula 1. Norris is an incredibly likable character that became popular with younger F1 fans way before the Netflix series took off.
Lando’s bubbly character and unfiltered opinions quickly made him a fan favorite. This came to light in the 2022 season as McLaren seemed to have lacked any real race pace. During his interview, he was fair, realistic, and absolutely hilarious while diagnosing issues the team was struggling with.