WORDSSTUART CODLING
PORTRAITMcLARENLANDO NORRIS
IN CONVERSATION WITH
McLaren’s young prodigy was an impressive rookie in 2019, but
didn’t win universal admiration for his laidback attitude and senseof humour. This year, he’s goingto tone down the larking about
and show what he’s really made of. Lando’s even eschewed thetrappings of Monaco and moved closerto theteam’sWoking HQ.
Look out for him locally– he still doesn’t mind the attention...“I LIKE EVERYTHING
HOW IT IS NOW.
IF I MOVETO
MONACO I WON’T
ENJOY THINGSAT ALL,
I DON’TTHINK”
You said you were goingtobe a bit less jokey as
we go into 2020. How is your personality going
tochange and how is that goingtoaffect your
racing going into the new season?
It won’t affect my personality at all. I’ll still be
who I am. I’ll still have fun, make jokes anddo
what I do. But there’stimes when things can get
portrayed quite differently from what I know.
A lot of people see me make jokes and whatever
and therefore they turn and put a lot of blame
for mistakes on me having fun, and seeing me
look like I’m not focused compared with other
drivers. I don’t want me being portrayed inthat
way basically, but I’m not gonna change a lot. It’s
just small things here and there.How much of a problem haveyou had with
internet trolls on social media? One assumes
it’s parfor the coursefor any athlete of stature,
but how do you deal with that?
It depends. I would say 90% of the time it
doesn’t affect me at all and I find it just quite
a good laugh to seewhat people can come up
with. But there’s times when you see things
that kind of play on your mind a bit. I wouldn’t
say it’s affected me in a good or bad way. It’s
quite different being in the paddock from what
peoplesee on TV and on social media, so it’s just
trying to get the balance right. Most ofthe time
it’s a good laugh.What’s it been likefor you transitioning from
a driver whose race weekend job istotake a
spec chassis and make the most out of it,to
a driver who obviously hastomake the most
out of the car during a race weekend, but
also has avery profoundvoice in the ongoing
development of that car?
It is a very big change. In F2 and F3, you’re very
limited in whatyou can change – roll bars andwing levels and so on. When you get to F1 it’s
a very different story. Every weekend there’s
normally a new iteration of some part or another
which will affect certain things, so you always
needs to keep in mind how things are going to
develop into the future. A lot of the stuff I say
leads everyone in a direction, so you have to be
quite careful, look atthe bigger picture and how
the whole package will improve rather than one
specific thing. At the beginning, I was shy to say
anything too much, because Ididn’t want to lead
anyone in thewrong direction. But as I went
through the season, especially towards the end,
I was more confident. Also, thetime and effort
you have toput into self-improvement is one of
the biggest changes.How important is ittoclose the points gapto
[team-mate] Carlos [Sainz] this year?
Not that much to be honest. We both had
bad races last year and missed opportunities.
But after reviewing everything, there was a
lot more points on my side which were lost
down to reliability and problems and strategy
mistakes than on Carlos’s side. That’s not
because anything is biased, it’s just how it goessometimes. And I’m not saying that all the points
gap to Carlos was because of that – some of it
was because of me not doing good enough and
being wise enough in strategic calls and so on.
But it’s not something I’m worried about. Once
you take into account how everything could and
should have gone, itlooks worse than it was.Weknow you liketolead quite a low-key life
away from the track. Haveyou hadtochange
the way you go about things since moving up
toFormula 1 fromFormula 2?
A little bit, but not really. You get the odd face
every now andthen that’s staring atyou a t
dinner. You’re just try to eat and you notice
somebody watching you – it’s a bitweird. But I
don’t mind it. Of course, I get noticed a little bit
more, [but] I’m not Lewis Hamilton and I don’t
get stopped wherever I go. I’m at the point where
I still think it’s quite cool; I don’t think I’m at the
point yet where I need to hidefrom people.Alex Albon has moved outtoMonaco – haveyou
got any planstofollow him?
No, it’s mo re beneficialfor me to live here [in the
UK]. I have moved closer to McLaren. Inow live...
I t imed it the other day,it took me3m20s to get
from here [MTC]to my new place. Tha t’s driving
within thespeed limit! I was living inGuild ford
before, 25 minutes or so [away]. Ilike everything
how it is now. If I move to Monaco Iwon’t enjoy
things atall, I don’t think. I’mstill not,truthfully,
compared with theother drivers, earning the
amount atwhich it will be morebeneficial than
maybe theenjoyment loss of not being able to go
to Londonwith friendsand do ing a lot of things
that youcan do herecomparedwith Monaco.
My enjoymenttakes over everything else at the
moment,which ismore crucial for how I wantto
be andhow I want to live life.70 GP RACING MARCH 2020202 0 SEASON PREVIEW
WORDSSTUART CODLING
PORTRAITMcLARENLANDO NORRIS
IN CONVERSATION WITH
McLaren’s young prodigy was an impressive rookie in 2019, but
didn’t win universal admiration for his laidback attitude and senseof humour. This year, he’s goingto tone down the larking about
and show what he’s really made of. Lando’s even eschewed thetrappings of Monaco and moved closerto theteam’sWoking HQ.
Look outfor him locally– he still doesn’t mind the attention...“I LIKE EVERYTHING
HOW IT IS NOW.
IF I MOVETO
MONACO I WON’T
ENJOY THINGSAT ALL,
I DON’TTHINK”
You said you were goingtobe a bit less jokey as
we go into 2020. How is your personality going
tochange and how is that goingtoaffect your
racing going into the new season?
It won’t affect my personality at all. I’ll still be
who I am. I’ll still have fun, make jokes anddo
what I do. But there’stimes when things can get
portrayed quite differently from what I know.
A lot of people see me make jokes and whatever
and therefore they turn and put a lot of blame
for mistakes on me having fun, and seeing me
look like I’m not focused compared with other
drivers. I don’t want me being portrayed inthat
way basically, but I’m not gonna change a lot. It’s
just small things here and there.How much of a problem haveyou had with
internet trolls on social media? One assumes
it’s parfor the coursefor any athlete of stature,
but how do you deal with that?
It depends. I would say 90% of the time it
doesn’t affect me at all and I find it just quite
a good laugh to seewhat people can come up
with. But there’s times when you see things
that kind of play on your mind a bit. I wouldn’t
say it’s affected me in a good or bad way. It’s
quite different being in the paddock from what
peoplesee on TV and on social media, so it’s just
trying to get the balance right. Most ofthe time
it’s a good laugh.What’s it been likefor you transitioning from
a driver whose race weekend job istotake a
spec chassis and make the most out of it,to
a driver who obviously hastomake the most
out of the car during a race weekend, but
also has avery profoundvoice in the ongoing
development of that car?
It is a very big change. In F2 and F3, you’re very
limited in whatyou can change – roll bars andwing levels and so on. When you get to F1 it’s
a very different story. Every weekend there’s
normally a new iteration of some part or another
which will affect certain things, so you always
needs to keep in mind how things are going to
develop into the future. A lot of the stuff I say
leads everyone in a direction, so you have to be
quite careful, look atthe bigger picture and how
the whole package will improve rather than one
specific thing. At the beginning, I was shy to say
anything too much, because Ididn’t want to lead
anyone in thewrong direction. But as I went
through the season, especially towards the end,
I was more confident. Also, thetime and effort
you have toput into self-improvement is one of
the biggest changes.How important is ittoclose the points gapto
[team-mate] Carlos [Sainz] this year?
Not that much to be honest. We both had
bad races last year and missed opportunities.
But after reviewing everything, there was a
lot more points on my side which were lost
down to reliability and problems and strategy
mistakes than on Carlos’s side. That’s not
because anything is biased, it’s just how it goessometimes. And I’m not saying that all the points
gap to Carlos was because of that – some of it
was because of me not doing good enough and
being wise enough in strategic calls and so on.
But it’s not something I’m worried about. Once
you take into account how everything could and
should have gone, itlooks worse than it was.Weknow you liketolead quite a low-key life
away from the track. Haveyou hadtochange
the way you go about things since moving up
toFormula 1 fromFormula 2?
A little bit, but not really. You get the odd face
every now andthen that’s staring atyou a t
dinner. You’re just try to eat and you notice
somebody watching you – it’s a bitweird. But I
don’t mind it. Of course, I get noticed a little bit
more, [but] I’m not Lewis Hamilton and I don’t
get stopped wherever I go. I’m at the point where
I still think it’s quite cool; I don’t think I’m at the
point yet where I need to hidefrom people.Alex Albon has moved outtoMonaco – haveyou
got any planstofollow him?
No, it’s mo re beneficialfor me to live here [in the
UK]. I have moved closer to McLaren. Inow live...
I t imed it the other day,it took me3m20s to get
from here [MTC]to my new place. Tha t’s driving
within thespeed limit! I was living inGuild ford
before, 25 minutes or so [away]. Ilike everything
how it is now. If I move to Monaco Iwon’t enjoy
things atall, I don’t think. I’mstill not,truthfully,
compared with theother drivers, earning the
amount atwhich it will be morebeneficial than
maybe theenjoyment loss of not being able to go
to Londonwith friendsand do ing a lot of things
that youcan do herecomparedwith Monaco.
My enjoymenttakes over everything else at the
moment,which ismore crucial for how I wantto
be andhow I want to live life.70 GP RACING MARCH 2020202 0 SEASON PREVIEW