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Lando Norris recalls being rendered speechless with joy when he was given his first contract with McLaren. Sitting in the cramped office of a paddock truck, the confirmation that he had made it to Formula One left him “very smiley for a long time”. Seven years on, he enters the new season having achieved his lifelong ambition of becoming world champion and is wearing an equally irrepressible grin as he sets about defending his title.
Claiming the championship after a monumental season-long tussle that went to a thrilling three-way fight at the finale in Abu Dhabi was the defining moment of the 26-year-old’s career and perhaps something of a turning point.
“I’m always very much in my own head and very thoughtful about myself,” he says. “It’s always been about proving it to myself. That’s the thing inside I’ve always had to do. Then when it clicks and I reassure myself, that’s when things go even better. I’ve gained confidence from last year. Just the fact I know I can do it means I know I can do it again. 100%.”
Norris has always been markedly honest, unafraid of admitting how self-critical he can be. He admits to a lack of self-confidence, of succumbing to elements of negativity that led to mental health issues early in his F1 career. All of which he has addressed but even early on last year, Norris still conceded he did not see himself to be as good as his title rivals, veterans Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso or contemporaries Max Verstappen and George Russell.
The fact he went toe-to-toe with them all and came out on top means Norris enters the new season with conviction that he very much can take on and beat the best. “There’s thoughts that I always had, looking up and thinking how on earth am I going to compete against these kind of guys?” he says. “When you get to F1, I come in and I see Max and Lewis and Fernando and Seb [Vettel]. And you’re like: ‘Damn, am I really at the same level as these guys?’ But did I make myself believe that I can be at the same level as them? Yeah, I certainly gave myself the knowledge and the belief that I can, that I can be just as good as Lewis, Max, whoever it is, Fernando, Seb. To be the best that I’ve ever been in Formula One. Last year, when I had that opportunity, like they had those opportunities to have a car that’s quick enough, then I proved it to myself.”
Norris made his point in emphatic style after a fearsome contest that ebbed and flowed against teammate Oscar Piastri, who had led for the opening two-thirds of the season and then a late charge from a resurgent Verstappen in the Red Bull, an ominous threat that took the fight to the wire, with the Dutchman finishing just two points behind Norris, who closed out with steely resolve in Abu Dhabi.
It was a coming of age for the driver who has long promised so much, delivered at the first real time of asking when McLaren produced a championship-winning car from the off. At its close he was in tears but also wearing a beaming smile that has not left him since. The grin is never far away while we speak and at every pre-season event there was a sense of joy that he has made no effort to conceal, right down to what he admitted was the surreal sensation of seeing the No 1 on his car for the first time.
Norris felt he had made a point to himself in taking the title, the first Briton do so since Hamilton’s last in 2020, and in the process grew as a person and a driver.
“There’s attributes which make me who I am and include simply never being pleased until I know I’ve done it right. That’s just who I am,” he says. “Not letting it have a negative impact on me is the understanding of the negative of that approach but as long as I understand it, learn from it, I know how to improve on it. Not letting it drag me down and put me in a worse mood and then let it affect me or the people around me negatively.”
Last year, this approach was given an acid test. Norris struggled for the opening half of the season against Piastri, as he lacked the feel for the front grip from the car and it was costly, particularly in qualifying. Yet how he dealt with the doubts and turned them around demonstrated the determination of a champion and a maturity recognisable not least in drivers Norris admires such as Hamilton and Michael Schumacher.
“It will still be a work in progress, it’s not like I’m never going to get annoyed at myself and I’m always going to be perfect from that side. But it’s something I worked on a lot last year,” he says. “I started working a lot more and from two-thirds of the way through, [there] was certainly a mentality change.”
This was perhaps best illustrated at August’s Dutch Grand Prix, where his car gave out with seven laps to go and he was left, head bowed, alone in the dunes beside the North Sea, cursing his luck. With Piastri taking victory, Norris was 34 points behind with nine races to go. At that point it felt to most observers that the title would be a bridge too far.
“Dealing with that was a good point,” he says. “It wasn’t like I came in, threw my helmet in and then shouted at the team. It was out of my control. I’m sure the team were very upset with themselves that they allowed something to happen like that.
“But I didn’t let that affect the team or myself and how we came back from that was the deal-breaker for the rest of the season. I guess it was a turning point. I don’t know specifically where and what turned things around but just continuing to improve on those things that I have done, continuing to work with the team on the car and get the car in a better window for me. Then when all these little things came together a bit more, that’s when things clicked and it just took the biggest step forward.”
This year with F1 embracing the most extensive regulation changes in the sport’s history, including entirely new chassis and engines, means all the teams are starting from scratch. The true pecking order for the opening round in Australia next Sunday remains opaque and McLaren are certainly in the mix but perhaps just off both Mercedes and Ferrari, who looked strongest in the pre-season testing.
“To use a football metaphor, the first part of the season will see us playing a bit defensively, trying to exploit the counterattack,” noted the team principal Andrea Stella, who is looking to aggressive development of the McLaren MCL40 during a season that will be marked by all teams learning on the go about their new rides.
With another tough fight on the cards, is Norris as hungry as ever now he has the title he always dreamed of?
“My motivation has always been to win a championship and to win races. Every race, the target is to win,” he says with conviction. “My motivation is the team and the people that I’m around. That’s not changed. So my motivation to want to go out and do well and to perform has not changed. The bonus is winning and the main part is making my team happy, so especially for now, nothing changes.”
Norris even now recalls with fondness his first race suit, donated by the kind parents of a fellow karter when he took up the sport and what it meant to him. “It was one of those moments when you get something when you are young and you never want to let go of it,” he says. “I slept in it even though it was smelly and old. The boots were way, way too big but I would wear it all day at home, it was awesome.”
He still has it, a memento of the journey that ultimately led him to taking the world championship and with it now a very real sense of belief that there is more to come.
