Life and work of Lando Norris, the kid who was born in a cradle of gold and dedicated his first victory in Formula 1 to his haters and his grandmother

The British Lando Norris On Sunday he achieved his long-awaited first victory in the Formula 1 in it Miami Grand Prix and so ended a long wait since he was considered one of the most talented drivers of the new generation.

In 2019, many observers predicted a great future for the Bristol driver when in Melbourne he became the fourth youngest in history to start a race in the top category of world motorsport, with 19 years and 124 days. Since that debut he climbed the podium 15 times, 8 times on the second step and seven on the third, until this Sunday he tasted victory for the first time.

By achieving the crown in his 110th Grand Prix, Norris became the ninth driver to take the longest number of races to get to the top of the podium. That list is headed by the Mexican Sergio Perezwho celebrated his 194th event, the 2020 Sakhir Grand Prix, followed by the Spanish Carlos Sainz in its 151st, which was the 2022 British Grand Prix.

In the era of digital communication and social media, Norris quickly won over many F1 fans both for his aggressive driving on the track and for his sense of humor on the radio or in front of the press. In the end, too He has 8.2 million followers on Instagram. The flip side is that the serial network haters nicknamed him “Lando No-wins” (“Lando without victories”).

Norris confessed that he used those hurtful comments as necessary fuel to prove that he could win. “I never lost faith, I never stopped believing in what I could do”he confessed.

“I am very happy to be able to prove a lot of people wrong. I like seeing people’s comments insulting me on Instagram and I especially love it and it makes me smile ‘Lando without victories’”. So I thank you all,” she said sincerely.

Born in 1999 within a wealthy familyWith a British father and Belgian mother, Norris started racing karts at the age of 7 and soon became European champion in 2013 and the world champion the following year. His rise continued in 2015 with victory in the British F4 championship, which attracted the attention of the British team. McLarenwhich included him in its young pilot development program.

In 2018 he was promoted to test driver in Formula 1 and was second in the championship. Formula 2behind his compatriot George Russell.

In his first season in F1 he was eleventh, in 2020 he was ninth and in 2021, sixth, before showing a certain stagnation, which prevented him from continuing to improve those results.

Its popularity also grew as a result of the enormous success of the Netflix series “Drive to survive”although their attitudes sometimes bordered on arrogance.

Two years ago, for example, he had harsh words for his Australian teammate Daniel Ricciardo when he announced his departure from McLaren. “I don’t feel like I should have any compassion for any driver who hasn’t been able to do as good a job as mine,” Norris said. I’m here to give it my all, simply. And not to help anyone.”

Despite his apparent confidence, Norris is among the few Formula 1 drivers who have spoken openly about the challenges of dealing with mental health.

“Have you ever mentally struggled with something, but hid it from the world by putting on a brave face? I do,” she stated in 2020. “I struggled a lot in 2019 and 2020. I didn’t know how to deal with it. I kept it all inside and it really damaged my confidence, which had hit rock bottom. I doubted myself and told myself: ‘Am I good enough to be in Formula 1?’”, he confessed at the beginning of 2023.

Since last year, when he returned to sixth place in the championship, the Briton has competition from the Australian at McLaren Oscar Piastri, another great promise. He’s putting more pressure on me than in the last two seasons and that’s good. “Every driver has something new to learn from and you have to take it into account,” said Norris about another of the factors that helped him climb to the last step of the podium on Sunday.

After screaming his head off as he did a celebratory lap and waved to fans from his McLaren, Lando took some emotional time to dedicate the win to dad Adam and mom Cisca.

“My parents have supported me a lot: they are the ones who have been there from the beginning. They allowed everything to happen. They are the ones who got me into racing, supported me and allowed me to get to Formula 1, achieve my dream and do what I have loved to do since I was a child”he explained.

And she was moved with the message for one of her grandmothers: “I dedicate it to her because she hasn’t been very well lately. I saw her last week and told her she was going to win a race. I didn’t tell him when, just that he was going to win. I didn’t think it would be so soon, so I’m really glad I did it so quickly.“.