Lando Norris

**Lando Norris** is a British racing driver currently competing in Formula 1.5. He was third in the championship in 2019, his debut season. Lando won his maiden Formula 1.5 Championship in 2021, followed by a 2nd championship in 2022.

## Personal Life

Born in Bristol, his father Adam Norris is a retired pensions manager, one of Bristol's richest people and the 501st-richest in the country. His mother Cisca (*nee* Wauman) is from the Flanders region of Belgium, He is the second oldest alongside three siblings, with two younger sisters Flo and Cisca, and an older brother Oliver who was also involved in karting on a competitive level. Norris holds both British and Belgian citizenship, and speaks a small amount of Flemish Dutch.

Norris was educated at Millfield School in Street, Somerset, leaving school without taking his GCSEs. He studied physics and mathematics with a full-time personal tutor. His family also moved to Glastonbury to allow him to become a day pupil, and to pursue his racing career, citing Valentino Rossi as an inspiration. Norris resides in Woking, in close proximity to McLaren's headquarters.

## F1.5 Career

### 2018

Lando was a test driver for McLaren in 2018, participating in practice sessions from the Belgian Grand Prix onwards except Singapore and Abu Dhabi.

### **McLaren (2019-)**

#### **2019 Season**

Lando became a full time driver for McLaren and had his debut in the 2019 Australian Grand Prix. He qualified 3rd, but finished 6th in the race. At the Bahrain Grand Prix, Lando was cruising in 2nd behind defending champion Nico Hülkenberg, but after the German retired with engine failure with 3 laps to go, Norris inherited the lead and won his first F1.5 race in only his second start. In the next race, Daniil Kvyat collided with Norris on the first lap causing both to retire late in the race. He took his second podium in Baku finishing 3rd, but retired again in Spain after colliding with Lance Stroll. Norris took his first pole position in France and was on course to finish second behind his teammate Carlos Sainz Jr., but late in the race he had problems and was overtaken by Kimi Räikkönen and Nico Hülkenberg on the final lap. He took another pole position in Austria and took his second win leading his teammate in McLaren's only 1-2 finish that year, after being unchallenged throughout the race. Norris was 6th at his home race and retired from the German Grand Prix. In Hungary, he finished 3rd despite starting on pole. In Belgium, the polesitter Kimi Räikkönen was effectively eliminated on the first lap in an incident with an F1.0 car, leaving Lando to lead almost every lap of the race. However, on the final lap, his engine failed and forced him to retire from a certain victory. He was classified 6th despite his retirement. He would take his third and last in that season Grand Prix win two races later, in Singapore. Norris finished his season with a second place in the United States and Abu Dhabi (where he also took pole), overall finishing third in the championship in his rookie season. He was awarded the F1.5 rookie of the year award.

#### **2020 Season**

At the opening race in Austria Norris qualified on pole position. The race was full with reitrments and drama, which saw Norris fall down the field. Norris quickly worked his way up to finish the race in 2nd place behind the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc. Norris also took the fastest lap on the final lap of the race. At the 2nd round, at the same track, Norris was given a grid penalty after an incident in free practice. With a few laps left of the race Norris was running fourth in the race, whilst Perez was dominating. Perez picked up damage though which slowed him down. In the final two laps Norris overtook Ricciardo, Stroll and Perez to take the win, which put him the championship lead by 14 points.

The McLaren looked to struggle at the next round in Hungry where Lando finished 9th and teammate Sainz finished 5th, after the race Lando lead the drivers championship by just 1 point over Sergio Perez. At the next round, at the British Grand Prix, Lando finished third to take his 3rd podium in 4 races. Championship challenger Perez did not take part in the event due to COVID-19, after the race Norris' championship was extended to 5 points, but this time over Charles Leclerc. Lando finished off the podium at the next two races, which saw him fall to 3rd in the championship behind Lance Stroll and Charles Leclerc.

At Belgium, Lando finished 3rd behind the two Renault cars, this pushed Lando up to 2nd in the championship, 10 points behind leader Lance Stroll. Italy looked strong for the McLaren cars, where they locked out the front row and were running 1-2 in the race until a Safety Car was deployed, followed by a red flag which saw others jump ahead of them, including championship leader Stroll. Lando finished the race in 4th. The next race at Tuscany saw Lando finish third, behind Perez and Ricciardo. Stroll retired from the race, meaning Norris re-took the championship lead over him by 4 points.

Norris' championship chances took a blow over the next two race's as he finished out of the points in Russia, whilst he retired from a technichal issue in Germany. After the two races Lando had fallen back down to third in the championship behind Perez and Ricciardo. Norris failed to get on the podium for the next 3 races, finishg 9th, then 6th then 5th. By this point Norris was in 4th place in the championship, now behind Charles Leclerc aswell. Norris was 53 points off Ricciardo in the lead of the championship with 3 rounds to go.

In Bahrain, Lando won the race after inherting it from Sergio Perez after a late engine failure. This saw McLaren get a 1-2 finish. Leclerc finished the race in sixth and Ricciardo finished fourth. This moved Norris into third in the Championship above Charles Leclerc. Lando could still mathmatically win the championship with two rounds to go.

In Sakhir, Sergio Perez won the race whilst Norris finished seventh. This meant Lando was no longer in championship contention as Daniel Ricciardo had also finished ahead of him. Going into the final race, Lando Norris won it with ease from pole position.

Lando finished the season in third place in the championship on 199 points.

#### **2021 Season**

Lando was partnered by reigning champion Daniel Ricciardo for the 2021 season, whilst the team also moved to Mercedes engines.

The season started well for Lando, Winning the first round of the season at Bahrain by a convincing 12.6 seconds over Ferrari's Charles Leclerc. At the next round in Imola, Lando would go on to win again to make it two out of two. The Imola win wasn't straight forward though as he was a long way behind Leclerc who was leading up until a late red flag, brought the pack together. Norris passed Leclerc on the restart. At round three, Norris won again to make his third victory of the season in as many races. After the race, Lando was leading the championship by 22 points over Charles Leclerc.

At the next race in Spain, Norris would only acheive a 7th place finish after struggling for pace. Rival Leclerc won the race and got the fastest lap, cutting the gap in the championship to just 8 points. In Monaco, Leclerc took pole but failed to start the race after a driveshaft failure on the way to the grid. Lando would finish in a comfy second place, 10 seconds off of winner Carlos Sainz. This result opened up the championship gap betwen Norris and Leclerc to 26 points. The next race was Azerbaijan, where McLaren were expected to be strong, but Ferrari showed up with solid pace. In Qualifying, Norris attracted a grid penalty after failing to adhere to red flag rules, but he went on to finish the race in fourth, where Leclerc finished third.

In France Norris qualified in 6th. After another difficult start for Norris, he dropped back to sixth behind his teammate. After a long stint on his starting medium tyre, Norris pitted on lap 25 switching to the hard compound. He went on to make many overtakes in the second stint of the race to win the race. At the eighth round of the 2021 season in Styria Norris qualified on pole for the first time of the season, it was an easy rase for the British driver who won. At the next round in Austria, he took his second consecutive pole position. During the race he was awarded a 5 second time penalty for an incident involving F1 Driver Sergio Perez. He would still go on to win the race by more than 30 seconds. He was leading the championship by 70 points.

Norris qualified second for the Hungarian Grand Prix. After a strong start, he was into the lead by the first corner, but was hit by F1.0 driver Bottas from behind and then forced into another F1.0 driver Verstappen. He retired two laps later under red flag conditions due to heavy damage.

Norris would return to the podium after the summer break with a 2nd place finish in Italy, finishing behind his teammate Daniel Ricciardo. He then went on to take pole in changeable conditions at the next round in Russia. He lost the lead to Carlos Sainz on the first lap before regaining it on lap 13. Norris continued to lead the race until rain began to fall in the closing laps. Norris decided to stay out on dry-weather tyres while other drivers arround him pitted for intermediate tyres. The rain soon worsened, forcing Norris to pit for intermediates. Norris finished fourth, recording the fastest lap of the race.

In the final stint of the season Ferrari introduced a new hybrid system which would match the McLaren at all tracks and was proving tricky to keep the Italian sqaud behind them. Going in to the final race of the season Sainz and Leclerc could both still catch Norris who was leading the championship. Norris won the championship by nine points over Carlos Sainz. McLaren finished the constructors behind Ferrari in 2nd.

#### **2022 Season**

In February 2022 Norris signed a contract extension with McLaren that will see him be with team until at least 2025. Norris completed all three days of the Bahrain Official Preseason Testing after Ricciardo tested positive for COVID-19 and was unable to attend.

A tough start to the season in Bahrain saw both McLaren drivers fail to score, with Lando finishing 11th, however in Saudi Arabia (round 2) Norris was able to finish 2nd behind Esteban Ocon by just over a tenth of a second. This result moved Lando in to fourth in the standings, 19 behind Ocon in the lead. At the next race in Australia, Lando took his first pole and win of the season ahead of teammate Ricciardo in 2nd, this result moved Norris up to 2nd in the standings 11 behind Ocon. It would be the same result Imola, with pole and then the race win. However, Imola was a sprint event which saw Lando take 8 extra points in qualifying. This moved Lando into the lead of the standings for the first time since Abu Dhabi in 2021. Lando lead by 20 points over Ocon, however Bottas was close to Ocon just 2 points further back. At the new Miami Grand Prix, Norris brought out the safety car when his McLaren MCL36 collided with Pierre Gasly's AlphaTauri. The incident at Miami lost Norris the lead of the championship, falling to second behind Valtteri Bottas by 3 points. Ocon was close behind Lando just 2 behind. The next race in Spain saw Bottas take a 2nd win in a row to extend the lead in the championship, with Ocon in 2nd and Lando in third. Lando was now 10 behind the standings.

Next was Monaco and Norris took a commanding win to close the gap down to Bottas to just 1 point. In Baku, Norris retook the lead of the standings by 3 points over Bottas and Ocon a further 17 back. In Canada, Lando struggled with power unit issues finishing the race 10th, whilst championship rival Ocon finished 1st ahead of Bottas. This result dropped Norris from the lead into third in the standings. It was now Bottas who lead the standings on 144 points, with Ocon in 2nd 10 points behind. Norris was third a further 4 back. The next race was The British GP where Norris took pole but lost the lead late on in the race due to a strategy blunder by McLaren, where Alonso passed him under safety car. Both Ocon and Bottas retired from the race which meant Norris was able to retake the championship lead by 4 points over Bottas.

The Austrian GP was the next event which was the 2nd Sprint race weekend of the year. Ocon took the pole position, and then would go on to win the race, whilst Norris finished third and Bottas 7th. This result meant Ocon and Norris were tied on points on 167 each. Ocon lead the championship on countback over Norris, with Bottas back in third 12 points behind. From Austria, they went to France where Norris took pole but finished 2nd behind Fernando Alonso. Ocon finished third meaning Norris retook the lead again of the championship by 3 points over Ocon. Alonso, whilst in fourth on 141 points (44 behind Norris) was being tipped as an outsider for the title, with Alpine showing true form. The final race before the summer break was the Hungarian GP where Norris converted pole to victory with Alonso 2nd and Ocon third. Which meant Norris went into the summer break with a lead of 13 points over Ocon.

Returning from the summer break, the Alpine drivers secured a 1-2 finish with Norris finishing 7th slashing his lead in the championship to just 2 points over Ocon. Norris returned to pole in The Netherlands but finished 2nd after Alonso passed Norris on strategy, nethertheless Norris extended his lead to 5 points over Ocon, as Ocon finished just behind in third. A second consecutive pole was scored at Monza, this time turning into victory, with Ocon finishing 5th and Alonso failing to finish the race, it boosted his lead to now 21 points in the championship. In Singapore, both Alpine's failed to finish with Norris taking the win further extending his lead to 47 points. The Japanese GP saw Ocon return to winning ways and Norris finishing 5th, his lead down to 31 points.

Norris took the win the American GP, followed by a third in Mexico. This meant Norris could win the title in Brazil by winning the sprint race and Ocon fails to score. This scenario played out perfectly for Norris meaning that Norris was a now a 2 time F1.5 Champion. He would go on to take the 20th win in his career at Abu Dhabi.

Norris won the championship ahead of Ocon and Alonso. McLaren failed to win the constructors championship despite winning the drivers championship for the 2nd year in a row.

#### **2023 Season**

Norris has remained with McLaren for 2023 where he is partnered at the team by 2021 Formula 2 champion Oscar Piastri, who replaced Daniel Ricciardo. At the first race at Bahrain, Norris experienced reliability issues. These issues dropped him down to last of the finishing drivers. At the next round in Saudi Arabia, Norris could only qualify 11th after making an error by hitting the wall. This marked only the second Q1 elimination of Norris, the only time this had happened before was at the 2019 German Grand Prix. The chaotic Australian Grand Prix saw Norris, take his first podium and win of the season, a result he'd repeat at the next race in Azerbaijan to catapult him into second in the championship.