Lando Norris

Lando Norris racing for Mücke Motorsport in Formula 4 in 2015

After initially developing an interest in motorcycle racing, Norris's attention switched from two wheels to four after his father took him and his brother to watch a round of the Super 1 National Kart Championships at his local kart track.[14] He started his racing career at the age of seven when he claimed pole position at his first national event. In 2013, Norris won in the World Karting Championships held in Bahrain, the WSK Euro Series and the CIK-FIA European and CIK-FIA Supercup titles.[15] The following year he won the CIK-FIA KF World Championship, with Ricky Flynn Motorsport, thereby making him the youngest karting world championship winner. In 2014, Norris made his debut in the Ginetta Junior Championship, a support series to the BTCC where he finished third overall, winning the Rookie Cup in his first year out of karts. For 2015, Norris signed with Carlin Motorsport to drive in the newly established MSA Formula series. Norris would win the series with eight wins, ten pole positions and 14 podiums. He also made occasional appearances in the ADAC Formula 4 Championship and the Italian Formula 4 Championship with Mücke Motorsport where he enjoyed even more successes, picking up six podiums from eight starts in the former and a single podium in the latter.[15][16]

Norris driving for Carlin Motorsport during the 2018 FIA Formula 2 Championship

For 2016, it was announced that Norris would be driving for M2 Competition in the Toyota Racing Series in New Zealand. Norris achieved six wins throughout the season, including the New Zealand Grand Prix and won the championship on his first attempt. Norris took part in the Formula Renault 2.0 Eurocup and Formula Renault 2.0 NEC series driving for Josef Kaufmann Racing in which he finished first in both series. As well as embarking on a campaign in the BRDC British Formula 3 Championship with Carlin, where he finished 8th on a part-time schedule. He also took part in the final round of the European Formula 3 Championship and the Macau Grand Prix with Carlin, finishing eleventh in the latter.[16]

Norris raced full-time with Carlin in the 2017 European Formula 3 Championship.[17] He clinched the title in the first of three races at the Hockenheimring finale, and finished 53 points ahead of runner-up Joel Eriksson.

He also raced for Carlin in the 2018 FIA Formula 2 Championship and came close to winning the title but ended up finishing runner-up to fellow Brit George Russell.[18]

Norris driving for McLaren during free practice at the 2018 Japanese Grand Prix

In early 2017, Norris was signed as a junior driver with McLaren.[19] Later that year, Norris tested for McLaren in a scheduled mid-season test. He set the second fastest lap in the second day of testing at the Hungaroring.[20] In late 2017, Norris became the official McLaren test and reserve driver for the 2018 season.[21] Norris participated in his first official practice session at the Belgian Grand Prix. He ran 26 laps in the session, and finished the session in 18th position out of 20 cars, also outperforming the best lap time of the other McLaren car, driven by full-time McLaren driver Stoffel Vandoorne.[22]

Norris at the 2019 Chinese Grand Prix

Norris was contracted to drive for McLaren for the 2019 Formula One World Championship, partnering Carlos Sainz Jr.[23] He qualified 8th on his debut race in Australia, finishing the race in 12th place. At the next race in Bahrain he produced a strong drive to finish 6th, scoring his first Formula One points.[24] The Chinese Grand Prix was the first of Norris' retirements that season, after damage from a first lap collision caused him to retire later in the race.[25] His next retirement came two races later in Spain after a collision with Lance Stroll. After an 8th-place finish at the next race in Azerbaijan, Norris suffered another retirement in Canada after his car suffered a suspension failure causing a brake fire.[9]

Norris was on course to finish 7th in France before hydraulic problems late in the race caused him to fall to 10th, eventually being classified 9th after a penalty for Daniel Ricciardo. This was followed by a 6th-place finish in Austria. In Germany, Norris was forced to start from the back of the grid due to an engine penalty, and retired from the race after a power failure.[26] He produced another points finish in Hungary, starting 7th and finishing 9th. At the Belgian Grand Prix, he made his way from 11th up to 5th in the early stages of the race. He looked on course for the best finish of his career thus far, maintaining his 5th place until he suffered a power failure on his final lap, eventually being classified outside the points in 11th.[27]

Three consecutive points finishes followed. In Japan, Norris was running in 5th place at the beginning of the race before Alexander Albon collided with him during an overtake attempt. His pace suffered for the rest of the race due to the resulting floor damage and he eventually finished in 11th place. At the next race in Mexico, while making his pit stop from 7th place, a wheel was fitted incorrectly and after almost exiting the pits, Norris stopped and was pushed back into his pit box by his mechanics for them to fit the wheel correctly. He spent almost two minutes in the pits and eventually withdrew later in the race after being far behind the other drivers.[28] He ended the season with three consecutive points finishes.[9]

Norris finished his debut season in Formula One in 11th place in the championship with 49 points. This was considerably behind teammate Sainz, but Norris out-qualified Sainz 11-10 over the course of the season. During his debut year, Norris signed a multi-year contract to stay with McLaren for the 2020 season until 2022.[29]

Norris driving at the 2020 Tuscan Grand Prix

At the opening race in Austria Norris qualified in 4th place but was elevated to 3rd after a grid penalty for Lewis Hamilton, the highest grid position of his career and the highest for McLaren since the 2016 Austrian Grand Prix.[30] In the race Hamilton was issued a five second penalty after a collision with Albon, requiring Norris to finish within five seconds of Hamilton in order to be classified on the podium.[31] He crossed the line in 4th place but was promoted to 3rd after setting the fastest lap to finish 4.802 seconds behind Hamilton. This marked Norris' first podium in Formula One and his first fastest lap, which came on the final lap of the race.[32] This marks Norris as the third youngest driver to stand on the podium in Formula One history.[33]

At the Styrian Grand Prix, Norris qualified sixth but was awarded a three place grid penalty after an incident in free practice. He overtook three cars (Daniel Ricciardo, Lance Stroll, and Sergio Pérez) in the final two laps of the race to finish fifth, and maintain third in the drivers' championship standings.

Norris finished the Italian Grand Prix in fourth position, two places behind teammate Sainz. Norris then finished the following Tuscan Grand Prix in 6th place.[34] Norris then followed in the by failing to any score at points in the Russian and Eiffel Grand Prix.[35]

During the Portuguese Grand Prix, a collision with Lance Stroll, which forced Norris to pit for a front wing change, alongside a second pit stop from a later puncture subsequently resulted in a 13th place finish. Following this, Norris faced criticism over his remarks that Stroll "doesn't seem to learn"[36][37] and his perceived downplaying of Lewis Hamilton's achievement of most Grand Prix wins, describing it as meaning "nothing to him".[38][39] Subsequently, Norris apologised for his comments about Stroll and also offered a personal apology to Hamilton, stating that his comments were "careless" and that he "[hadn't] shown the respect I should have to certain people".[40][41][42]After three non-scoring races Norris finished eighth at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix after a difficult race on a race track with few overtaking opportunities.[43]

At the wet Turkish Grand Prix Norris had what he called "[the] worst start of everyone's career ever",[44] starting from 14th place on the grid after a five-place grid penalty, he finished eighth with the fastest lap.[44] At the Bahrain Grand Prix he came fourth, scoring important points in the fight for third in the World Constructors' Championship.[45] At the Sakhir Grand Prix, Norris finished 10th after a disappointing qualifying led to a decision to fit a new engine resulting in a engine penalty that put him at the back of the grid.[46][47] After qualifying fourth at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, 0.25 seconds off pole position, Norris finished the race fifth which, along with teammate Sainz finishing sixth, allowed McLaren to finish the year third in the Constructors' Championship.[48][49]

Norris is due to remain at McLaren for 2021, partnering Daniel Ricciardo who will replace Sainz.[50]

† As Norris was a guest driver, he was ineligible for points.
* Season still in progress.

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

† Driver did not finish the race, but was classified as he completed over 90% of the race distance.
‡ As Norris was a guest driver, he was ineligible for points.

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate points for the fastest lap of top ten finishers)

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)

^† Did not finish, but was classified as he had completed more than 90% of the race distance.
* Season still in progress.