Lando Norris: ‘Now I need to show I can go up against Lewis and Max’

While Lando Norris may still bear the tousled hair and impish grin of youth, no one in Formula One is in any doubt that, after only three years on the track, he is a contender ready to prove himself. If 2021 was a standout year for Norris, this season could mark his true coming of age.

In his McLaren team’s motorhome, Norris’s warm, easy laughter and engagement sit in contrast to the remarkable steely cool he exhibited last season and the ambition he holds for the future.

“Hopefully we are in a slightly quicker car this year,” he says, with a smile. “Now it is just about me trying to show everyone the best driver I can be, and that I am good enough to go up against Lewis and Max.”

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After a season of high drama, controversy and a thrilling title fight between its two protagonists Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton, it was remarkable that Norris managed to make such an impression. He came sixth in the championship and finished on the podium four times but numbers do little justice to some of the performances. He was quicker than the Mercedes in Austria, prompting Hamilton to offer high praise. There was pole and so nearly a win in Russia, almost a pole in Spa and a mighty run at Monza where he was beaten only by his teammate, Daniel Ricciardo, over whom Norris largely had the edge all season.

It was impossible to ignore his skill and composure. Mixing it with the more experienced drivers at the front of the grid, Norris was entirely at ease. Former driver and now Sky Sports F1 commentator Martin Brundle recognises the British driver’s great leap forward. “Lando is the real deal,” he says. “Lando has gone from boy to man in the last few years on and off the