Lando Norris joined the Formula One grid with McLaren in the 2019 season, becoming the youngest ever British driver. He made his debut in Australia getting off to a strong start qualifying eighth in his first race, and went on to score his first points in his second race, Bahrain, finishing sixth. Ninety nine races on, this weekend’s race in Austin marks Norris’ 100th race in Formula One, what a huge achievement! The past five years has been a roller coaster for the 23-year-old, let’s look back at Norris’ five best landmark moments!
Lando’s First F1 Podium - 2020 Austrian Grand Prix
After just a year of racing at the highest level, Norris managed to get on the podium in the first race of the 2020 season – which was the first race back after the pandemic outbreak. Starting from third on the grid, the British driver battled with Max Verstappen in the opening few laps but had no luck of getting past. He slowly started dropping down the order, but after Verstappen retired he was back into fourth position.
Norris managed to hold on to fourth place for 22 laps before being overtaken by Sergio Perez. Despite the race featuring two safety cars, on the 61st lap Norris still held onto his fifth place position. A collision between Lewis Hamilton and Alexander Albon allowed Norris to get up to fourth, but it was short lived as Charles Leclerc knocked him back to fifth. Later in the race Norris managed to get past Perez to regain fourth position, and with a five-second penalty awarded to Hamilton, Norris was promoted to third earning his first F1 podium.
Photographer Credit: GEPA pictures / Red Bull Content Pool
McLaren 1-2 - 2021 Italian Grand Prix
Following a nine year drought without a win, McLaren managed to get both their drivers on the podium with Norris’ teammate at the time, Daniel Ricciardo, taking the top step followed closely behind by the Brit in second place.
After originally finishing fourth in Monza’s Saturday Sprint Race, Norris was promoted to third on the Grand Prix grid as Bottas was given a grid penalty. Much like the previous landmark moment Norris battled with Verstappen after the lights went out, but after losing out spent his time battling fellow Brit, Hamilton, for several laps. A 26th lap crash between Hamilton and Verstappen put Norris up to third, he was able to smartly overtake Leclerc on the safety car restart promoting himself to second where he spent the remainder of the race.
This was 2021’s only one-two of season, and was also Norris’ highest finish after finishing third three times the season before.
Lando’s First Pole - 2021 Russian Grand Prix
In a weekend where the rain didn’t stop, Norris managed to make his McLaren come alive in Q3 to get him on the front grid spot for Sunday’s race.
Norris improved in each qualifying session; starting in fifth for Q1; before moving up one place to fourth in Q2; and finally first. He started Q3 on Intermediate tyres which saw him in only second place, a switch to Soft tyres gave Norris the needed speed to take him above Carlos Sainz by over a half a second.
In Sunday’s race Norris kept the lead off the line, but on the long run down to turn 1 was overtaken by Sainz. He managed to keep a good distance between himself and his ex-teammate, which paid off as on lap 13 he took the Ferrari down the inside regaining his first place position.
Unfortunately Norris decided against making a late pitstop to switch to Intermediates on a worsening slippery track, this led to the McLaren spinning off track and Hamilton, on an opposite tyre strategy, overtaking him for the lead. Norris ended in seventh but was very unlucky with the extreme weather conditions.
Leading in front of a home crowd - 2023 British Grand Prix
The start of the 2023 season, which featured five finishes outside the top ten, is one McLaren will want to forget. With the help of the team back at Woking by race week nine they had massively increased the pace to shock everyone and have Norris finishing fourth in Austria. The new-found speed continued into race week 10 for Norris’ home race, Silverstone.
Norris had a fantastic qualifying finishing second just behind Verstappen, meaning he was starting on the front row. The Brit reacted well to the lights going out and was alongside Verstappen going into turn one, with a sold out crowd behind him Norris managed to claim the lead earning the loudest cheer of the weekend. He managed to hold onto the lead for five laps but was unable to stop the persistent pressure from Verstappen.
This race also saw an epic Battle of the Brits between Norris and Hamilton, with the upcoming star overcoming the already established legend for the second step on the podium.
Consecutive Podiums - 2023 Singapore, Japanese and Qatar Grand Prix
Since Silverstone, Norris has been going from strength to strength with his most recent achievement being three consecutive podiums at the Singapore, Japanese and Qatar Grand Prix.
The first came in the Singapore Grand Prix where Norris worked with ex-team mate Sainz to keep the Mercedes duo of George Russell and Hamilton out of attacking distance, this assistance allowed Norris to cross the line in second place.
Next came the Japanese Grand Prix just a week later, ending in the same result for the 23-year old. Starting from third, Norris managed to get past team mate Oscar Piastri into turn 1, though the lead didn’t last with the McLarens swapping again after a well-timed stop for the Australian driver. With the faster car, Norris was allowed back past his team mate into second to chase the car ahead, and that’s where he remained for the rest of the race.
Finally and most recently was the Qatar Grand Prix where both McLarens looked rapid! A mistake in qualifying left Norris starting in the midfield, though he managed to recover well in a physically demanding race to finish in third.
Photographer Credit: Getty Images / Red Bull Content Pool
First win – coming soon?!
The final landmark for Norris to complete is a race win! The Brit described the upcoming race in Austin as one that doesn’t suit the McLaren’s due to the “more slower speed”, but he did manage to qualify second … so could we see him win in his 100th Formula One race on Sunday night?! With Verstappen starting back in sixth, anything is possible!
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