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Motorsport

Lando Norris: From Autosport BRDC Young Driver winner to Autosport Champion

Lando Norris Autosport BRDC LAT Images McLaren Jackie Stewart DTM F1

Autosport handed out our inaugural Autosport Champion accolade at the 38th Autosport Awards at London’s Roundhouse on 21 January. And it was appropriate that reigning world champion Lando Norris should win it – but not just for his Formula 1 success.

Quite aside from becoming the second Young Driver winner to take the F1 title – after 1998/2009 victor Jenson Button – and the fifth to become world champion, Norris is also the right winner because of his history with the event and Autosport.

Like Lewis Hamilton, Norris first came to the Autosport Awards during his successful karting career, sharing the stage with three-time world champion Sir Jackie Stewart in 2013 when Norris was just 14 – and looked younger!

Having made a successful step up to cars in Ginetta Junior at the end of 2014, Norris took the MSA Formula (now British F4) title with Carlin the following year. He scored eight victories against a field that included future IndyCar star Colton Herta and Formula E race winner Dan Ticktum, plus was a race winner in ADAC F4 at Spa.

Arguably 2016 was his breakout year, during which he started the season by winning the Toyota Racing Series in January-February, and managed to take both the Formula Renault Eurocup and NEC crowns. He also found time to take four victories in BRDC F3 (now GB3) despite only contesting half the meetings.

That was easily enough to get him into the McLaren Autosport BRDC Award, aimed at finding and boosting rising British single-seater talent, against Ricky Collard, Sennan Fielding and Toby Sowery – a trio that had been finalists before, unlike Norris. All four were put through rigorous fitness and simulator tests before two days on the Silverstone Grand Prix circuit in MotorSport Vision-run F2, DTM Mercedes and McLaren GT3 machinery.

Norris starred throughout the Young Driver test (Photo by: LAT Images)

Norris, at 16 one of the youngest finalists in Young Driver history and against rivals four years his senior, was quickest in the simulator and was praised by the report from the Human Performance Centre at McLaren Applied Technologies: “Lando was an outstanding candidate for his cardiovascular fitness and anthropometry [certain physical measurements] score.”

When it came to the Silverstone running, Norris was second fastest in the first new-tyre F2 run on day one, then quickest in the second. Some members of the DTM team struggled to believe he was old enough but, after being in the mix on the early used-tyre runs, Norris blitzed the field by 1.2 seconds when they were given new rubber. The team also reckoned his feedback was the best.

In the McLaren 650S, Norris was fastest on used tyres, pipped on the new-tyre run, but then nailed the longer run, which tested consistency.

Day two was all about the F2 car and now Norris underlined his advantage in the 425bhp (475bhp with ‘overboost’) single-seater. He was quickest in both used-tyre runs and topped the significant new-tyre, overboost-allowed sessions, setting two laps good enough to be quickest in each and being 0.7s and 0.4s faster overall. Some years, those gaps have covered all the finalists.

Norris’s honesty and analytical skills were displayed in the one F2 session he didn’t top in day two, the Pursuit, which took the drivers’ overall ‘race’ times across a 10-lap run. Pirellis were new to the Award that year and Norris tried to protect them early on, hoping for payback later. It didn’t work as the grip fell away anyway and Norris was only second fastest, but he knew – and admitted – his approach had been wrong the moment he stepped out of the car.

Guest judge David Brabham, on hand to assess the judging as well as the drivers, said: “It really doesn’t take long for you to see the talent quickly on track. You could almost say in the first lap or two it becomes obvious.

Not only fast, Norris also demonstrated he was a quick learner during the F2 test (Photo by: LAT Images)

“What we saw on track translated into lap time, as Lando’s commitment, braking technique and lines just stood out straight away. He was very consistent, unflustered throughout the whole test, and very mature for his age. Lando made it pretty easy.”

It was no surprise when Norris won the Award, picking up an F1 test prize and, unique in Award history, a McLaren F1 simulator role and young-driver-programme status that really got the ball rolling with the Woking squad.

“We’ve got a future F1 driver and a future world champion standing right here beside me – and I think that’s pretty cool,” said chairman of the judges Derek Warwick on the night in London.

That meant something to Norris, too: “It definitely means a lot, what he said. My dream is to be a champion in F1, and someone who knows so much and goes to so many F1 races makes you trust and believe in things he says.”

It was a sentiment that was clear in the immediate aftermath of the presentation. This writer had the job of escorting Norris, who had just turned 17, out of the room at the Grosvenor House so that the bar could be opened. Once we’d dealt with the many well-wishers, including current McLaren boss Zak Brown, we had a quiet moment in the hotel’s reception, Norris with an orange juice.

What stood out was how honest and humble he was. He knew he already had a good support network around him and was well-funded, but to get acknowledgement from outside his inner circle – after driving cars he hadn’t had previous seat time in – really meant something to the teenager. It’s easy to forget that some criticised him for being a ‘rich boy’ in his early days.

Norris celebrates being named Young Driver winner (Photo by: LAT Images)

He was already popular with the fans, though, as demonstrated by the fact that he also won the British Club Driver of the Year Award that same night. There used to be an (erroneous) belief that if you won that it meant you weren’t going to scoop the Young Driver prize at the end of the night, but the two were entirely independent – British Club Driver was decided by a reader vote.

That was followed by Norris being voted the National Driver of the Year, normally the domain of British Touring Car drivers, in 2017 following his European F3 title success. It was perhaps surprising he didn’t also take Rookie of the Year, but Charles Leclerc was rather good in F2 that year!

Norris seemed happy enough: “I don’t know why, the Autosport Awards just seem different to the rest of the awards. It’s not just winning a championship – it’s doing well against other drivers. Hopefully over the next few years I can continue and get more and more of them!”

That’s certainly happened. Since getting to F1 in 2019 – when he was again pipped to the Rookie prize, this time by Alex Albon – Norris has won British Competition Driver of the Year six times, putting him only two off the record. His Autosport Champion gong therefore means he’s into double figures for Autosport Awards – and he’s still only 26!

One final thought. A year or two after winning the Young Driver Award, Norris messaged this writer asking if he could be a judge. My rather cheeky response was, “Sounds great, but go and win a couple of world titles first”. So, half-way there Lando…