Current Lando Norris

So a fan favourite is no longer in the series so Lando is drafted in to soften the blow for all the hardcore fans........but enough about Star Wars we're here to talk about F1. Yes the only other Lando you know will make his F1 debut with McLaren this year and if McLaren aren't already in talks with Disney about a special Star Wars promotion on the car for some races this year then they really are out of touch with the world.

Lando Norris (cue FB posting a pic of Norris from Coronation Street) is a 19 year old whizz kid from Bristol. I've watched him quite a bit over the years and from the very first moment I saw him drive the words 'next Lewis Hamilton' floated into my brain. He has won championships in every series he has raced in.......until last year. When he was announced in F2 i quickly tipped him for the championship but, like many times before, I was proved to be wrong. There is no doubt he was quick and he was in the slightly slower Carlin car but no question he was out classed by both Russell and Albon. Why is a harder thing to put your finger on. He was quick and was often in the right positions in the race but the results did not come his way. It might be explained away by the fact his entry into F1 was a sure thing from around half way through the season as it was quite clear that if McLaren didn't sign him Toro Rosso would. Maybe he took his eye off the ball in F2 because of that? Who knows.

However Norris got here he is now here and will be driving a McLaren already tipped to be at the front of the midfield pack. We have of course been promised this before. His team mate is one Carlos Sainz and in my mind Sainz is really ripe for the taking. It's not talked about much (mainly because Zak Brown owns the motorsport press) but Sainz was really torn a new one by Hulkenberg last year. I can't remember one race where he did something special. So what Norris has ended up with is a team mate who is highly rated but seems to have lost form. If Norris beats him this year there is no doubt it will sky rocket his rep. In my mind Norris's only job this year is to beat his team mate.

As good a rep and opportunity Norris has I can't help but notice the road block up ahead for him. He is part of the McLaren junior programme and he is already in a Mclaren so he's top of the tree. Unfortunately I don't see McLaren ever getting back to the front of the grid in the current F1 climate. This means at some point Norris will have to make a switch to one of the big 3. The problem with that is that the big 3 already have their young stallions in their stables and it's going to take a bit of luck or some really good form for Norris to displace one of them.

We are getting ahead of ourselves though. First things first though let's see how the kid does this season.

Anyone excited for Norris?
 
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Much like Red Bull in due course, I've given Gasly his fantasy P45 after this weekend.

Norris was also in my team from day 1. Thankfully McLaren, much to a lot of people's suprise, have turned out a decent car.
 
As most of you long time members know I'm a man who makes many predictions with nearly all this predictions being wrong - I was teabagyokel would reappear to remind me of all the wrong ones :( - but one thing I did call way way way back on a thread about "the next big driver" was the rise of Lando Norris.

Don't mind me - just blowing my own trumpet over here and strutting like Saturday Night Fever.
 
I think Lando could well be the surprise this year. My only concern is he appears to be a bit Aasleep during safety car restarts whether it's his driving style where he fails to get enough heat into the tyres or the car's design I hope its sorted because he kept losing places
 
He's driving a McLaren, yesterday's performance was like a flash of your hot teacher's nip at the start of the autumn term...
We'll be tenting until half term then cum in our pants before the standard flaccid McLaren performance through the rest of the year...
Shit GCSE results followed by a crap report and resits next year.
 
He's driving a McLaren, yesterday's performance was like a flash of your hot teacher's nip at the start of the autumn term...
We'll be tenting until half term then cum in our pants before the standard flaccid McLaren performance through the rest of the year...
Shit GCSE results followed by a crap report and resits next year.
Your Nobel* prize for literature awaits, you silver tongued charmer.


*knobel
 
Have Ferrari picked up the wrong McLaren driver? I know the big teams are conservative (hi, Toto!) but Lando was very close to Sainz in his rookie season, and assuming a normal rate of development was on course to be faster in his second, which so far - early days - appears to be the case.
 
Lando is certainly doing well. The big question will be how much better McLaren can get, especially next season when they switch to the Merc engine. Danny Ric will provide an excellent gauge to measure Lando's pace by.

A Ferrari move would be tempting for any driver but I wouldn't want to be there at the moment.

The real trick for Lando will be to catch the wave at exactly the right time to ride it to success.

Once the regs change, McLaren will either need to produce a world beater for 2022 or Lando will need to be picked up by a team that has built one.
 
watching ep3 of drive to survive. i was pretty confident that if mclaren new car didnt improve & they stayed 7th/8th in constructors. Lando was off but watching the show. its pretty nailed on that you can tell that lando wasnt happy. when the PR lady was discussing lando doesnt have a exit clause. he was very silent & he was so upset he wasnt even hiding how angry he was & how much he would like to be verstappens teammate

so you could say who ever designed the new mclaren, sergio perez should be thanking for keeping him in a job for an extra 12 months. maybe even zak brown because the alternative doesnt bare thinking about. as zak brown couldve lost Google sponsorship, his best driver & potentially his job
 
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