Lando Norris: Aspiration and Fan Influence

This episode is brought to you by Salesforce, the official CRM technology partner of Formula One. Visit salesforce.com slash F1 to learn more about how Formula One wows fans and grows its global fan base with Salesforce. He wants to win with one of Formula One's most famous teams. The McLaren victory that Lando Norris longs for is still a dream for now. And he wants to do it his way. I want to be the best in the world. But do I have to do anything to go over the top and show that and prove it? I don't think so. People say, you know, you've got to be brutal and you've got to have this mentality and that and this and whatever. But I just don't think it's true at all. You've just got to get in the car and do the best you can. If people say I don't look like I have the right mentality or I don't look aggressive enough, blah, blah, blah, that's just their opinion at the end of the day. 2023 has been tough so far. But a terrific fourth place at the Austrian Grand Prix could be the start of a McLaren revival. And Lando's learning to ignore any negativity as he pursues his goals. 2019, 2020, like I would read something and I'd be like, why has this person said this or done that? Like I almost cared too much about what people think. And I got to a point now where I really enjoy seeing what people write about me. I love it. I love reading all the bad things. I've just learned to laugh and make fun of the bad things because... I ignored the impact or the effect that it has on me. Hello and welcome to F1 Beyond the Grid with me, Tom Clarkson. Honest, hungry and impatient for success, Lando Norris is eager to be a Formula 1 Grand Prix winner with McLaren. He was agonisingly close at Sochi in 2021. before victory slipped away in the final few rain-soaked laps. McLaren haven't been able to fight for wins since then, but with big technical leadership changes on the horizon, they are optimistic about the future. Now the team's senior driver, Lando is thriving on the pressure to lead the second most successful team in the history of Formula 1 back to the front. So what's it like to be Lando Norris? As you're about to hear, he shares his early memories of Silverstone and why the British Grand Prix makes him smile more than any other race. He talks about coping with fame as an introvert, dealing with criticism and what kind of daddy wants to be in the future. Plus, hear how new Australian teammate Oscar Piastri compares to Daniel Ricciardo. Lando and I spoke just before his brilliant drive in Austria. I hope you enjoy our conversation. Lando, it's great to see you again. How are you? I'm very well, thank you. How are you? I'm excited about Silverstone. Are you? Of course. My favourite weekend of the whole year. My home race, I guess McLaren's home race, one of my favourite circuits. The whole weekend is insane, especially Sunday night, the fan stage. That's the thing I almost look forward to the most. Yeah, I really can't wait for it. You say the whole weekend is insane. Just how different is it to any other Grand Prix? I mean, it's just the amount that you're smiling. Even if you have a bad race or whatever, it's just the amount I smile just because of how many people are there shouting your name or cheering for you. You see the amount of people wearing your hats or tops or clothes, whatever it is. It just makes me smile. It just makes me happy to see that there are people there who want to spend their weekend supporting me and cheering me on and shouting my name and stuff. It's just weird because I never ever imagined I'd be in that position or be one of those people. It's hard to imagine that when you're a kid. I still find it. a bit surreal a bit odd in a way but um yeah it just makes me smile and makes me happy and um that's the best thing you can have lando mansell nigel mansell always said it was half a second a lap yeah exactly what you've just described yeah how does it affect you in the car i mean you wouldn't believe it when people say that they look up into the crowd while driving and uh yeah people are cheering you on or whatever it is like like even when i'm driving around i got my helmet on and it's hard to smile when you've got the helmet on because it's You're pushing against your cheek so much, but I always try to look in the crowd and just, especially when you've done like a little overtake or something and you see them standing up and cheering and shouting and throwing stuff, whatever. It definitely makes a bit of a difference. The exact number is, I don't think anyone will ever know, but I think it definitely helps. It just gives you that extra little motivation. You feel like it's your job to kind of actually go out there and perform for them, you know, to deliver for them. And therefore you just, the thousands of a second, the little, little things, you just try and add all of that together more than you almost ever do before. Can we talk history a little bit? When was your first... First visit to Silverstone? Oh, my first visit. 2017 was, I think, just when I joined McLaren. That was my first ever time at the race weekend itself, like watching Formula 1 in Silverstone. So that was pretty insane. But my first ever time was probably like 2010, 2011. And I only went on a Friday. I barely even managed to see any of the driving. But I just went with a couple of friends. I went to see someone. It was just cool being, I was in GP3, GP2 at the time, so I just went to see one of the guys that was performing in that and that was cool because I was just, I was a kid there, so it was just anything that I saw that was a car or related to Formula 1 was just blowing my mind. I was just like a kid in a candy store, you know, just smiling at everything and just being in the coolest place on earth. I didn't even get to see the Formula 1 stuff, so that had to literally wait until 2017 and that was my first experience of being at a Formula 1. race i think in a formal at silverstone was a was a double hit can we talk logistics where do you stay when do you arrive at the track which day do you come earlier because it's silverstone well i've like a few media days before probably speaking to you or something um looking forward to that yeah uh so i have yeah just because it's you know it's the it's the it's like also busiest race of the season for me 100 like you're pretty knackered off you're not because of the driving but your jaw hurts because you're smiling so much and it's just a lot of interviews and a lot of attraction and so on and that's that's like an amazing thing to have but uh i think i'm pretty sure i'm staying at the hilton at the circuit are you being very on message when you're actually going to be in the brdc campsite with people like lewis no i'm not i'm not saying i'm i'm 99 sure i'm in the hilton the new in the penthouse but yeah the new hotel opposite the pit lane uh yes i'm from what i've been told that's uh that's all i know i'm still yet to do the campsite so i think it's um in the plan for for next year now what about the fans describe the craziest gift you've been given proposals of marriage you've had plenty um i don't know babies named after your dogs cats cows um uh i don't know it is It's just one thing that you love, you know, especially in certain places like Japan is crazy for it. But you always get gifts of certain things and the memorable things, you know, things you can use in everyday life. Like for me, the bracelets, when fans give me bracelets, those are for me like the ones I remember the most in a way. But like there's always food and things which I'm never the most keen on because you never know what they've done to the food. Maybe they cooked it themselves. Or they might be Max fans. Oh yeah, exactly. They're trying to have me over or something. So... There's so many gifts that you get from, I guess, the massive range of people. You have supporters who probably can't even speak because they're one year old or something, but they have a little cute Hélène McLaren top on or something. And you have guys who are way, way older, you know, 50, 60, 70 and so on. So you just get everything, you get everything there, all the good stuff. So, yeah, it just makes it very, very memorable. And even now, like, I remember being on the fan stage and they're like chanting Lando or they kind of do the chants where, you know. put your name into a song and uh it's just yeah it's just such a insane feeling for me everything's about memories it's about remembering like the good things and like i mean that's even why i did my that jpeg page my my photographs and all of it is just so i can look back on it and remember the the good times because again that makes me smile that puts a smile on my face and um that makes me enjoy the life that i live the f1 movie is going to be filmed this weekend at silverstone are you looking forward to that that's going to be a memory yeah i mean i don't know like if i'm in it am i am i just on the side like uh i don't know how it's gonna work but oh i don't know how to break this to you oh i'm not in it i have no idea i've no idea um i think it's a pretty cool thing i guess i guess you kind of get used to it a little bit with the netflix stuff i know it's probably a much bigger production and and so on but yeah you got brad pitt and you got the the stars who are who are in it just i guess it's just very cool to be to be part of that especially if You were to re-watch it, you know, in 20, 30, 40, 50 years. Just like now, I guess you re-watch certain movies, you're like, wow, that was cool back in that time. And it feels weird that you could ever say that in 50 years, that we might be in like an old time. But you can show your kids, look, that's me. Oh, no. Yeah, it's just an odd thing. But to be part of something like that, it's always cool and special. Now, look, what about the day job part of Silverstone? Can you describe a lap? of the track in a Formula One car and with all the fast corners does it require a different approach to other tracks? A little bit I think so much of it's to do with timing especially you know you've got Maggots and Beckett's the ones Everyone likes to talk about, but for good reason, because it is, especially in a Formula One car, you know, you're flat in eighth gear all the way until Beckett's. Where's it go? Maggots? Beckett's? Chapel? Yep. Can we go back one corner to Copse? Do we include Copse in this great section? You can include Copse. The thing is now the cars are so quick, Copse is very close. I'm presuming this year it's going to be flat. But it depends enough on wind. If you have a headwind, it's flat quite easily. If you have a tailwind... How difficult, Lando, is it to keep your right foot flat through cops 185 miles an hour? It depends what the bet's on with your teammate. And there's little things, you know, like who does the tunnel in Monaco flat first and who does this and that. So I feel like, yeah, who does cops first is one of them. But how much are you... feeling through the car at that point or is it so glued that you're just doing it because you know it can do it rather than the feel you're getting from the car um i mean it's so quick you almost have to commit and then find out what happens rather than the opposite you try to anticipate things when you're going at those speeds being able to react in the time is so difficult because it's what 290 300 probably as you enter it um eighth gear but i feel like the best description of it is you see the consequence of When Max and Lewis came together and how big of a crash that was for Max. And that's, you know, after a slide and then you go through the gravel a bit and then you hit the barrier. But you would say like one of the biggest impacts you've seen in Formula One for a very long time. So that's when you see like what it is doing, you know. Does it make you stop and think? Every now and then. But at the same time, I think when you get back in the car, you just get so back into the zone. The thing I always use is, would someone else lift less than me? I always feel like I have to say yes. Or would someone else brake later than me here? And I feel like out of the 20 drivers on the grid, someone's probably going to push it that little bit more. And I'll be thinking of this like, you know, 100 metres before the corner. But that would be my little thought, just not be a wimp and back off more than I should or brake too early is, do I think someone else might be better? You know, do you think Max should brake that little bit later or lift less? And I kind of force the answer to be a yes. And then that's the little... the little kick that i need to make sure i try to not lift more than i should but it goes through your head all these little things even if people say it doesn't they're lying because uh because it does we're focusing on cops maggots beckett's chapel the quickest section of track when it comes to car setup where do you focus do you need it to be good through those corners to be quick over a lap or is it the slow stuff in the arena complex at the start of the lap it's more um As annoying as it is, it's the slow speed. Like, even when you feel like, nah, no one's done Magus Beckett's Chapel Stowe quicker than that, it's rare that you ever gain more than half a tenth to a tenth on people, you know. If you do, then it's quite a big, big change. The high speed is, yeah, where you gain a lot less lap time than you do in the slow speed, simple as that. So then you always kind of have to focus a bit on it, but... You know that's where there can be much bigger consequences if things go wrong. So you still need the confidence in the car, you need the consistency. And especially because Silverstone can be pretty windy too. It's quite an open track, quite flat. When you start having the wind start to come into play, that's when things get twice as tricky as what they normally are. And then that's sometimes when you wish, I wish I made the car a little bit more stable in the high speed and things like that. So yeah, you have it. But slow speed... generally is where you kind of put a bit more focus, but you then have the challenge of, do you go high downforce, lower downforce? You go low downforce, you're getting in all the strays, but you make the life in Maggots, Beckett's, Chapelstow a lot more nerve-wracking. All these kind of question marks you have to put together. This episode is brought to you by Salesforce, the official CRM technology partner of Formula One. Formula One is full of exciting moments, and they keep... all 500 million of their fans closer to the action than ever before with the help of Salesforce. Remember when Lewis Hamilton won the British Grand Prix on three wheels? Nail-biting! Or Max Verstappen and Fernando Alonso's breathtaking qualifying this year in Monaco? Salesforce gives Formula One a single, shared view of every fan's data so they can deliver one-of-a-kind experiences and race day updates that keep fans on the edge of their seats, whether they're at home, at the track, or on the go. With real-time data and actionable insights, Formula One puts every fan in the cockpit. Visit salesforce.com slash F1 to learn more about how Formula One wows fans and grows its global fan base with Salesforce. Right, so what about yours and McLaren's chances at Silverstone? Message to your fans, what can they expect? Austria was our first, say, decent upgrade on the car. With more coming this weekend? With more coming this weekend. So if there's any time when people should be a bit more excited about things, it's come at the right time. In my opinion, I would love to be able to take that next step and show what the car can do a bit more and have a better result. Where can we finish? I have no idea. I'm never very good at this. I'm always wrong. But yeah, if there's any time when we can maybe expect a bit more from us as a team and from me as a driver, I guess, as my home race, it's here in Silverstone. Well, sixth last year, fourth the year before. Yeah. So you know how to score points. I can't remember. I forgot that I was fourth. You know, it's one position off being on the podium in my British Grand Prix. Yeah, I mean, it's... Do you actually think being serious, it is... just still too far away given the competitiveness of Red Bull, of Aston Martin, of Ferrari, of Mercedes. I mean, those were the days when the car was, yeah, it like, I mean, just as a thing, it was, we were a bit more competitive then, you know, I had four podiums that year. The car was extremely good in high speed corners. That was, we were one of the strongest on the grid in high speed. We were reasonably good in the straights at the same time. So we kind of had a very good car that worked well at Silverstone. Like last year, we've had this car, which is a bit more draggy, a bit more inconsistent. Less efficient and then we pay the price quite heavily in such a track where you want to be very good in the straights but you need to have a car that performs in the high speed and we kind of lacked that a bit last year. Do you take some confidence from what happened in Barcelona? And Lando Norris with his best qualifying of the season And you are the queen You are the queen What? Still? Interesting Good job mate, very good job Let's go baby okay it didn't go so well on sunday but there were lots of factors including you know rubbing wheels with lewis and things but the car was quick through quick corners yeah in barcelona does that give you some hope for silverstone absolutely at times we've been close to being one of the best cars in high speed corners i guess sometimes it's for different reasons but it's always been a very good strength for us so i'm i want to take from what we've what we've learned in in austria where i'm sure we you know we were one of the best in high speed have been for many many years and and silverstone too we're generally one of the best cars in magus beckett's cops stow i feel like stow is what cops maybe used to be like uh in a way because it's sixth gear uh end of australia very small break It feels like one of the most challenging corners. So I want to be confident that the car is going to be good in these places. And therefore, we can hopefully translate it into a good result too. But look, until this moment, let's look at the first third of this year. In terms of the number of points you've scored after seven races, the MCL60 hasn't served you well. It's the fewest you've scored in your five years in Formula One. Does that make this car the least competitive you've driven? thus far in your career or have there been mitigating circumstances? I mean we've definitely been unlucky at times but it's more that every other team is doing decent you know we've got the budget cap coming into play more and more so the smaller things which maybe didn't matter quite as much in previous years you pay the price for now more than ever and there's no let's say struggling or bad team in Formula One like there maybe has been a bit more of over the last three four years now if you're a couple tenths off you can genuinely be in last place. If you put a lap together, you can get into Q3 and you can almost look like a hero. So it's not that everyone else is doing extremely well. No one's doing badly. So when you just turn over a car which is put together that's quite right, you then have to say it's a car that didn't perform as well and is the least competitive. So I would agree with it. And it's been definitely the hardest, toughest start to a Formula 1 season that I've had. And how hard is that for you to deal with? I think what's made it worse is the fact that we were kind of on the up. You know, I had, what, four or five podiums and things were looking like they were heading all in the right direction. Then it took a decent hit last year. Everything you feel like you were getting close to, then just you kind of lost it again. So that success, the smiles, the champagne, all of that, like everyone loves it. That's what we kind of live for every weekend. And when it's like not even close, it's so far away. It is tough, like just mentally. You put so much effort into it every weekend, but everyone, it's not just me, it's every engineer, every mechanic, everyone back in the factory puts so much effort in, and just when things aren't going right, you just don't feel like you get rewarded for the time and effort that goes into everything. So rewards and feeling like you've achieved something makes it massive. difference and when you don't you just feel like so much goes in and very little ever comes out but you just kind of have to use that to keep pushing through things and just know and have the faith and belief that uh things will turn around at some point the rain has come down and hamilton takes the lead of the race as lando norris slides off the track This could have been win number one. Without the rain, it would have been win number one. When you were last on the show, you said that Russia 2021 was the race that you should have won and the rain fell and we know what happened there. But do you feel further away from that first win now than you did a year ago when you were last on Beyond the Grid? Yeah, confidently I can say yes, as much as it hurts me to say it. That car that season was, you know, we were seven hundredths of pole or even less back in Austria. That was my first podium that year. We were close to pole or we got pole in in Russia, close to winning my first race in Russia. Imola was almost a front road start and then got deleted for track limits. So we were close very often to these kind of success stories and now we struggle to get in the top 10 half the time. The first time I've been out of Q1, like just on general performances, and I think I've been out what three, four times or something now. So yes, by quite a long way. And it is a long, long way from where we were and having any chance of being on the podium. A driver's lifespan in Formula One is limited, although the old guard seems to be going on and on when you look at Fernando, Alonso and Lewis Hamilton. But time is of the essence. Are you getting impatient? I was impatient in year one. I would say yes. Formula One just isn't as simple as what everyone wishes it is or thinks it is at times. And you can be lucky, you know, Lewis came into McLaren when they were winning races, winning championships. So for someone to say, are you trying to emulate Lewis Hamilton? I mean, I wish I could say yes, but at the same time, if I had the thought I'm the best driver in the world, or even if you put the best driver in the world in the car I have now. Not going to have won races and not going to have achieved a lot more, I feel, than what I have. You have to be lucky. You have to have things go your way. Fernando's one of the best drivers ever in Formula 1. And everyone's said, whether it's his fault or not, that he's made wrong decisions with teams that he's joined and so on. And he's kind of should have scored five world championships. And he's only got two. He's got two. It's just complicated. But at the same time, you just have to learn that being patient, learn to be patient is a part of... What do you got to do when you enter Formula One? Every other category before that you kind of, if you're not winning, it's maybe a little bit because of the car, but also because of you. Whereas Formula One, you can be the best driver in the world, and if you don't have the car behind you, you're not going to win one race. The life of teams and cars is unfair in Formula One, but it also is what makes it special, is what makes it so difficult and one of the most difficult sports to enter and be a part of in the world. How did you feel when George Russell... won in Brazil last year. I was very happy for him. I love George as much as I do want to beat him and compete against him and so on. I'm just a driver that has a lot of respect for those kind of people, you know. I have a lot of respect for the people I've grown up with, the people that I know are there because of their talent, their work ethic, and George is one of them. So as much as at times, yeah, I'm sure I wished, everyone probably wishes that they could win a race. There's always a little bit of like that. That envy that's like my, you know, I feel like I also could have won if I was in this position but At the same time, I just try to not think of it at all. I don't want to think about it, because I just want to do the best job I can with what I got. At the end of the day, I was very happy for him. He's showing what he can do. I'm a tough loser, but I'm not a sore loser. I just have respect. I have respect for the people I work with and the people who achieve things, because they deserve to have achieved those things. Let's throw it forward then and look ahead at what's coming at McLaren. You've got upgrades. at Silverstone next weekend I think there's even more coming in Hungary as well the weekend after that so hopefully the team will get some momentum yeah and then there's been a lot made of some high-profile technical signings but they're not going to be joining until the start of next year right I just wanted to get your thoughts on the trajectory that McLaren is on are you happy to wait till 2025 which is going to be the first time we see All the new people that... Whether I'm happy or not, my contract's in 25. So I'm part of McLaren, I'm in Papaya until the end of 25. I mean, I really look forward to those times, but there's plenty of things that we can be and are doing better now without these people. We cannot blame... Our performance, because we don't have this person or that person, there's other things that we just should have done better for many years in the first place. So, always additions and great minds and talented people like this are going to have a big effect. Help us and wind tunnel simulator, all these things are going to have an effect. Again, I'm not that kind of person that thinks what is going to happen in that time. Maybe when you have to think about it, when you're forced to think about it, then you have to go in and think about it. In a time when I'm in a team that I want to be part of, I want to win with, I don't get too caught up with what's happened and what is going to happen. I'm very much a guy that just lives in the now and yeah, whether I'm sad or not or good or not, I don't know. That's just the way I live my life, but of course I get excited by it and I look forward to those times. It gives me a good boost, it gives everyone in the whole team a good boost. It gives me more reasons to want to continue into the future, but there's always a time when it comes to a decision that has to be made. Nothing needs to happen now, so I'm happy. What about your status within the team? You've jumped up the pecking order, I feel, since we were last together doing one of these, in that you are now number one driver. Well, how is that experience for you? It depends how you look at it. Not once as a team have we ever said number one or number two. That's a rule that we've had in McLaren since I've joined, I think even before I've joined. Maybe that was the wrong word then. Maybe I should have said senior driver. Yeah. Yeah, I think that's a much better way of putting it. Just simply more experienced, senior driver, guy who's been in Formula 1 for longer, guy who's been part of the McLaren team for much longer. But that's it. The rest is, you know, of course the team rely on me. Do you enjoy that responsibility? I guess it adds that responsibility to me. And I do feel like I've had to step up and pay more attention to more things. But I wouldn't say it's too different this year to what I had last year or even the year prior to that. I feel like already then I was the guy who maybe wasn't the more experienced guy in Formula One, but was the guy who was more experienced with the team. I felt in a comfortable position with the team for the last two years. And I felt like I was already in a bit of that space of trying to guide the team back then. It's just that now I'm the older driver. That's the only thing in my head that really has changed that much. The rest of it is just things that people want to make up and talk about. That responsibility is simply the biggest word and the most accurate word is responsibility. And I've had to just step up a little bit into that role, but not a lot more than I was last year and back in 21 too. Do you feel there's more pressure on you now? I think that it's inevitable because I'm the older driver and there's a younger driver next to me. I'd be lying if they said there wasn't, but I would say there's more pressure, but does it affect me? No. I think, yeah, you'd be lying if you said there wasn't any more pressure on it, but it's just... Does it affect you? Does it make you feel a different way? Then I would just say not. If anything, it motivates you more to put that extra little thing in or work on that little thing or question it or just get every little thing out of the car that you can. It's more of a motivation, kick in the backside kind of thing rather than are you worried because of this or because of that. So you enjoy pressure? I would say I enjoy it. I think you almost have to enjoy it in Formula 1. There's so much of it with... with the life that you, not your force to live, but what comes just with the job of being a Formula One driver. Kind of then the life you live and the eyes that are on you, the cameras, all of this stuff, and just being, what, 20 drivers in the world? Plenty more that want to be in that seat and will do everything in the world to be in that seat. There's always the pressure that lives with you every single day, but it's kind of learning how to use it or how to deal with it and how to forget about it. People deal with it better than others. But I feel like I'm in a point now where I don't think about it too much, really at all in a way. I'm just happy to... The pressure you don't think about. How are you coping with fame? Depends how you look at it. Do I just love the fact that people support me or... Yeah, I want to take pictures or I don't know for the support side of it of the fame. Do you love it? Like I love it. I think it's an amazing thing that people are there for you but i'm i've always been like a Quite an introverted kind of guy not the best with crap and people um as much as uh it sounds like probably the opposite of how you have to be in formula one i've never been that much of that kind of guy i've learned to deal better with it this is a really interesting point because i've always thought drivers needed to be extroverts to show people what they can do in a racing car to want yeah in a funny kind of way almost want to show off go on i can do this I'm the best in the world, leave me at it. Yeah, but I don't know why. I'm quite interested that you're an introvert. I don't know. I've just never been that kind of person. I want to be the best in the world. I want to prove to people, but I've never had the mentality or the confidence to have to say that or feel like I need to do anything more than normal to show it to people. Like I know what I think and what I want to achieve in the back of my mind. And so do I guess to the people that I work with and the team that I work with and the people I have around me. But do I have to do anything to... go over the top and show that and prove it i don't think so you know you have a lot of old drivers like um not all drivers but people who just like uh say you know you got to be brutal and you got to have this mentality and that and this and whatever but i just don't think it's true at all i think um you just got to get in the car and do the best you can i want to beat everyone as much as i have respect for people outside of the track and i get along with carlos and george and alex and lewis and whatever doesn't change how i you want to how much i want to beat them on track if anything i want to meet them even more so i yeah i've just never been that kind of person if people say i don't look like i have the right mentality or i don't look aggressive enough blah blah like that's just their opinion at the end of the day we saw some good moves from you in canada as we do most races i think there's no danger of that lando no i like i know i am but i i guess people will always say i hate the saying but i try to do the talking on the track This episode is brought to you by Salesforce, the official CRM technology partner of Formula 1. With Salesforce, Formula 1 has the real-time data and actionable insights it needs to turbocharge fan engagement. From race day updates to perfectly personalized offers, Formula 1 delivers experiences that turn new fans into loyal ones. Visit salesforce.com slash F1 to learn more. about how Formula One wows fans and grows its global fan base with Salesforce. What about the talking off the track? You have a hell of a reach now. What is it, more than six million on Instagram, two and a half million on Twitter, and everything else you've got going on in your world. Do you fully appreciate... the reach that you have now yeah i feel like i've i've used it for times in covid and whether it's charity things or mental health side of things i feel like i've used it to help these things or to portray things or give my views i don't feel like i have to use it or that i necessarily want to use it as much as it's kind of it is a little bit part of what you kind of got to do in in formula one and it adds to your brand and all of this and so forth so i think i i think i do you I think I realize but like if someone calls me famous or a celebrity I hate when people say oh you're a celeb or um you're so famous like um I don't know I just try to be as normal as possible I don't want to stand out too much as much as I at times like it and people are like oh can we get a picture and things then you're like oh you appreciate it but um I wouldn't say like uh I love it and I want it if that makes sense for all the positives of social media It can also be quite a toxic place. Do you look at what's written and said about you? All the time. Do you really? No, I do. You do actually look? No, I do. I love it. I love it. I love reading all the bad things. Are you actually being serious? I guess 2019, 2020, like I would read something and I'd be like, why is this person that said this or done that? Like, I almost cared too much about what people think. And be careful how I say it because people are going to headline it and go, oh, London doesn't care about it. But you have to learn to... to listen to the people that you respect understand what people are saying but at the same time when you know someone has no idea about something or just says it simply because they're idiots or they've got nothing else to do uh that's positive you know like i don't i don't get why people would waste want to waste time of their life their one life that they live why people like even want to spend time doing these things you know writing bad stuff and trying to find bad things and make bad situations like People are actually choosing to spend their life, their one life on earth, doing such things, which makes absolutely no sense to me. So I got to a point now where I really enjoy seeing what people write about me. Of course, I love the good things and it's great to read at times. You just have to, like, I've just learned to laugh and make fun of the bad things because I just feel sorry for the person who's actually had to come up with that stuff in the first place, that that's brought amusement to them and they think that's like a, I don't know. Do you use the negativity as a source of motivation or do you just ignore it? I mainly try to ignore it. I guess I read it, so I don't completely ignore it, but I ignore the impact or the effect that it has on me. But I really am a person who cares a lot about what people think and I never want to look bad or say the wrong thing. And I feel like I'm always very honest with things. And therefore, sometimes I say things that, not that I shouldn't, but things that are just true and genuine. We just live in a world now more and more where I know you just have to say things that everyone agrees with. People can't have just an opinion to them. It has to be something that every human on earth has to agree with. And if it's not something like that, then there are people that are going to say that you're disrespectful and blah, blah, blah. But I just try to get on with my life and I say it because that's my opinion. And they can just agree with it or disagree with it and move on from that. If you had kids now, what advice would you give them? about social media yeah i don't want to think of that just yet having um yeah well both uh i mean i love kids my brother's just had a second baby um and they're the cutest things on earth so are you a good uncle i'm i think i'm a great uncle as much as babies always cry when they see me uh i feel like i'm i'm good with them um i like even you know my manager i've grown up with my manager for the last what 10 Even longer, almost 11 years or something and he's had three kids since so yeah like just kind of growing up with them a little bit even when I was a kid I don't feel like I was much older than what they were but growing up with them and just I look forward to that part of my life in a way, as much as I'm 23 and I don't want to think of it. Yeah, I look forward to it. I do think, you know, I see Max and his father or people whose fathers were in Formula 1. And, you know, whether it was like Schumacher 2, like I'm curious to think like what it's like in the future. What kind of dad do you think you're going to be? I'm going to be a strict dad. I'll tell you that. I feel like I have good opinions on things. My parents brought me up, I think, very well. I get that in my... data was successful and things like that and people always try to turn that into a bad thing about the person but um i think i have like respect i think i have uh good manners i think i've um yeah i do everything that i that i need and i don't get into people's faces too much and blah blah um i keep to myself all the time so i just take what my parents taught me simply and i'll do the best thing best job i can to uh ingrain that to to the kids i have in the future and back to the original question gosh we've gone off we're talking about kids and families the advice you'd give your kids about social media yes um i mean a lot of it comes to them at the time and i feel like what this i don't know if it's gonna be 10 years 20 years or whatever as it's quite difficult to see the landscape yeah i don't know i don't know what it's going to be like then if you think to 10 15 years ago from now like a completely different world so No idea. I don't want to think about it too much. But, you know, at times you've got to learn about it. I think you can just protect everyone from everything. I think there's a certain amount of that. But there's a certain amount of, like, you've got to go through the hard times to realize them and realize what are good and bad and all of those things make you learn. So I don't think you can ever be, you almost don't ever want to be perfect. But I'll just do my best. That's simple. That's my only answer. Let's talk teammates now. You've swapped one Aussie for another, Daniel Ricciardo. Yes. Oscar Piastri for Daniel Ricciardo no other way around which way around Daniel for Oscar Oscar Piastri is now your teammate yes what similarities do Oscar and Daniel share they're Australian but they're very different Australians they're like the complete opposite they couldn't be more opposite I think both lovely people but both yeah like Oscar's extremely down to earth I feel a bit like me just a very normal just a guy who's in Formula 1 just a guy who loves to drive cars and compete against people and that's it you know that's just what he loves to do um and there's not a lot more to it in terms of what he tries to achieve the rest is him just being a lovely person he had along very well both guys that uh have a lot of respect both guys you can enjoy spending time with and enjoy both here at the track and also back home um or away wherever you are you're only one year older than oscar whereas the age gap was what 10 years between you and daniel how does that change the dynamic between you do you feel you've got more in common with oscar because a little bit it's a tough one i don't i don't feel like many things are too different i feel like the way that people portray the relationship is different i'm sure like when you think dan daniel's what 30 31 32 then there was 21 22 yeah i don't know i feel like when you're way older then there's almost more pressure on the older person than ever on a younger person And I guess there's a little bit, like we just spoke about, there's a little bit of that now, probably a lot less than being 32 against a 22-year-old. But yeah, I guess we're still into our different things a little bit. Both guys, I just get on really well with. I went to dinner with Daniel the other night in Monaco, so I still get on really well with him. Do you race Oscar on the sim? No. I don't know if Oscar's got it. I think he might have just got a sim. No, I mean, generally I've not been into doing that as much, actually. I'm just spending a bit more time out with my friends and traveling, going to see my family a bit more. I just haven't spent as much time on computers, electronics. I kind of drifted away a little bit from that. I'm more a golf family friends. For me, that's the, not in that order, but family friends is for me the most important thing. So spending more time with them as a person than staying at home playing computer games. Lando, it's been really great to catch up with you again. thank you final one from me are the goals the same for you now as they were when you came into the sport in 2019 100 i say yeah i'm more determined i have better knowledge now of how to achieve them when what all of it i feel like i'm in a much maybe not more competitive position but uh personally in a much better position than i ever have been and the knowledge of how to achieve them i feel like i have a much better understanding of so um Being a world champion, winning for my team that I drive for. Simply, those are the two goals I have at the minute. Multiple world champion would be nice, but I'll start off with one. Best of luck with that and enjoy Silverstone. I shall do. Thank you so much, everyone. In the right car, I have no doubt that Lando can win multiple world titles. But that's the thing about Formula 1. Drivers need to be in the right place at the right time. Let's hope McLaren are edging their way back towards the front. It's always fun to sit down with Lando. He continues to come across as very honest and straightforward, and also very relaxed. He says in that chat that family and friends are the most important thing for him, away from the racetrack. And I think we can all agree that Lando would be good fun on a night out. And it's no wonder that he's kept in touch with Daniel Ricciardo. Lando, many thanks for your time. And as I said at the end of our chat, enjoy your weekend at Silverstone. Now, please send in your thoughts and stories about Lando. What did you think of our conversation? What do you think of the season he and McLaren are having in 2023? And do you think Lando can win with McLaren? Let me know through... all the usual means. I'm at TomClarksonF1 on Twitter, or you can use the hashtag F1BeyondTheGrid. Which brings us on to what you sent in about James Vowles after last week's show. Williams is in safe hands, seems to be the overriding opinion from your messages. Let's start with this from Will Williams. No relation, I'm guessing, Will. What an incredibly inspirational character. James is a natural leader and figurehead. that will definitely put Williams on an upward path. I especially enjoyed learning about his journey into Formula One. Amazing pod, Tom. I loved it. Well, thank you for that, Will. And I agree with you, James is inspirational and I think he's exactly what that team needs now. And what about this from Carl Lawrence? The more I hear James speak about Williams and his approach to rebuilding the team, the more I'm assured he is absolutely the right person to lead the team and continue the legacy of... the Williams family. I can't wait to see the results. Thank you, Carl. It will be interesting to watch the team's journey over the next 18 months, won't it? And finally, here's Gapson76. James is such a positive force in the team. He has this energy in him that is such a breath of fresh air. There's no doubt that James works hard. Did you know that he keeps a notebook by his bed so that if he wakes up in the night with an idea, he'll remember it in the morning? Look, thank you for all your messages, as ever. I haven't got time to read them all out, but I do read them, and I love reading them because many of you are really insightful. Well, that's almost it for this week. Thank you for listening. And before I go, please remember that F1 Nation's review of the Austrian Grand Prix is out now. We're actually joined by McLaren team principal Andrea Stella to reflect on Lando's impressive weekend at the Red Bull Ring. And this week's Formula Y podcast is all about wind tunnels. And that's out on Friday. Catch you all again next week when I'll be joined by another great guest from the world of Formula One. Beyond the Grid is produced by Formula One and Audioboom Studios. Until next time, keep it flat out.

The McLaren victory that Lando Norris longs for is still a dream for now. And he wants to do it his way. I want to be the best in the world. But do I have to do anything to go over the top and show that and prove it? I don't think so.

People say, you know, you've got to be brutal and you've got to have this mentality and that and this and whatever. But I just don't think it's true at all. You've just got to get in the car and do the best you can. If people say I don't look like I have the right mentality or I don't look aggressive enough, blah, blah, blah, that's just their opinion at the end of the day.

2023 has been tough so far. But a terrific fourth place at the Austrian Grand Prix could be the start of a McLaren revival. And Lando's learning to ignore any negativity as he pursues his goals.

2019, 2020, like I would read something and I'd be like, why has this person said this or done that? Like I almost cared too much about what people think. And I got to a point now where I really enjoy seeing what people write about me. I love it. I love reading all the bad things.

I've just learned to laugh and make fun of the bad things because... I ignored the impact or the effect that it has on me. Hello and welcome to F1 Beyond the Grid with me, Tom Clarkson. Honest, hungry and impatient for success, Lando Norris is eager to be a Formula 1 Grand Prix winner with McLaren.

He was agonisingly close at Sochi in 2021. before victory slipped away in the final few rain-soaked laps. McLaren haven't been able to fight for wins since then, but with big technical leadership changes on the horizon, they are optimistic about the future. Now the team's senior driver, Lando is thriving on the pressure to lead the second most successful team in the history of Formula 1 back to the front.

So what's it like to be Lando Norris? As you're about to hear, he shares his early memories of Silverstone and why the British Grand Prix makes him smile more than any other race. He talks about coping with fame as an introvert, dealing with criticism and what kind of daddy wants to be in the future. Plus, hear how new Australian teammate Oscar Piastri compares to Daniel Ricciardo.

Lando and I spoke just before his brilliant drive in Austria. I hope you enjoy our conversation. Lando, it's great to see you again. How are you?

I'm very well, thank you. How are you? I'm excited about Silverstone.

Are you? Of course. My favourite weekend of the whole year.

My home race, I guess McLaren's home race, one of my favourite circuits. The whole weekend is insane, especially Sunday night, the fan stage. That's the thing I almost look forward to the most.

Yeah, I really can't wait for it. You say the whole weekend is insane. Just how different is it to any other Grand Prix?

I mean, it's just the amount that you're smiling. Even if you have a bad race or whatever, it's just the amount I smile just because of how many people are there shouting your name or cheering for you. You see the amount of people wearing your hats or tops or clothes, whatever it is.

It just makes me smile. It just makes me happy to see that there are people there who want to spend their weekend supporting me and cheering me on and shouting my name and stuff. It's just weird because I never ever imagined I'd be in that position or be one of those people.

It's hard to imagine that when you're a kid. I still find it. a bit surreal a bit odd in a way but um yeah it just makes me smile and makes me happy and um that's the best thing you can have lando mansell nigel mansell always said it was half a second a lap yeah exactly what you've just described yeah how does it affect you in the car i mean you wouldn't believe it when people say that they look up into the crowd while driving and uh yeah people are cheering you on or whatever it is like like even when i'm driving around i got my helmet on and it's hard to smile when you've got the helmet on because it's You're pushing against your cheek so much, but I always try to look in the crowd and just, especially when you've done like a little overtake or something and you see them standing up and cheering and shouting and throwing stuff, whatever. It definitely makes a bit of a difference. The exact number is, I don't think anyone will ever know, but I think it definitely helps.

It just gives you that extra little motivation. You feel like it's your job to kind of actually go out there and perform for them, you know, to deliver for them. And therefore you just, the thousands of a second, the little, little things, you just try and add all of that together more than you almost ever do before.

Can we talk history a little bit? When was your first... First visit to Silverstone?

Oh, my first visit. 2017 was, I think, just when I joined McLaren. That was my first ever time at the race weekend itself, like watching Formula 1 in Silverstone.

So that was pretty insane. But my first ever time was probably like 2010, 2011. And I only went on a Friday. I barely even managed to see any of the driving. But I just went with a couple of friends. I went to see someone.

It was just cool being, I was in GP3, GP2 at the time, so I just went to see one of the guys that was performing in that and that was cool because I was just, I was a kid there, so it was just anything that I saw that was a car or related to Formula 1 was just blowing my mind. I was just like a kid in a candy store, you know, just smiling at everything and just being in the coolest place on earth. I didn't even get to see the Formula 1 stuff, so that had to literally wait until 2017 and that was my first experience of being at a Formula 1. race i think in a formal at silverstone was a was a double hit can we talk logistics where do you stay when do you arrive at the track which day do you come earlier because it's silverstone well i've like a few media days before probably speaking to you or something um looking forward to that yeah uh so i have yeah just because it's you know it's the it's the it's like also busiest race of the season for me 100 like you're pretty knackered off you're not because of the driving but your jaw hurts because you're smiling so much and it's just a lot of interviews and a lot of attraction and so on and that's that's like an amazing thing to have but uh i think i'm pretty sure i'm staying at the hilton at the circuit are you being very on message when you're actually going to be in the brdc campsite with people like lewis no i'm not i'm not saying i'm i'm 99 sure i'm in the hilton the new in the penthouse but yeah the new hotel opposite the pit lane uh yes i'm from what i've been told that's uh that's all i know i'm still yet to do the campsite so i think it's um in the plan for for next year now what about the fans describe the craziest gift you've been given proposals of marriage you've had plenty um i don't know babies named after your dogs cats cows um uh i don't know it is It's just one thing that you love, you know, especially in certain places like Japan is crazy for it.

But you always get gifts of certain things and the memorable things, you know, things you can use in everyday life. Like for me, the bracelets, when fans give me bracelets, those are for me like the ones I remember the most in a way. But like there's always food and things which I'm never the most keen on because you never know what they've done to the food. Maybe they cooked it themselves. Or they might be Max fans.

Oh yeah, exactly. They're trying to have me over or something. So... There's so many gifts that you get from, I guess, the massive range of people. You have supporters who probably can't even speak because they're one year old or something, but they have a little cute Hélène McLaren top on or something.

And you have guys who are way, way older, you know, 50, 60, 70 and so on. So you just get everything, you get everything there, all the good stuff. So, yeah, it just makes it very, very memorable.

And even now, like, I remember being on the fan stage and they're like chanting Lando or they kind of do the chants where, you know. put your name into a song and uh it's just yeah it's just such a insane feeling for me everything's about memories it's about remembering like the good things and like i mean that's even why i did my that jpeg page my my photographs and all of it is just so i can look back on it and remember the the good times because again that makes me smile that puts a smile on my face and um that makes me enjoy the life that i live the f1 movie is going to be filmed this weekend at silverstone are you looking forward to that that's going to be a memory yeah i mean i don't know like if i'm in it am i am i just on the side like uh i don't know how it's gonna work but oh i don't know how to break this to you oh i'm not in it i have no idea i've no idea um i think it's a pretty cool thing i guess i guess you kind of get used to it a little bit with the netflix stuff i know it's probably a much bigger production and and so on but yeah you got brad pitt and you got the the stars who are who are in it just i guess it's just very cool to be to be part of that especially if You were to re-watch it, you know, in 20, 30, 40, 50 years. Just like now, I guess you re-watch certain movies, you're like, wow, that was cool back in that time.

And it feels weird that you could ever say that in 50 years, that we might be in like an old time. But you can show your kids, look, that's me. Oh, no.

Yeah, it's just an odd thing. But to be part of something like that, it's always cool and special. Now, look, what about the day job part of Silverstone? Can you describe a lap?

of the track in a Formula One car and with all the fast corners does it require a different approach to other tracks? A little bit I think so much of it's to do with timing especially you know you've got Maggots and Beckett's the ones Everyone likes to talk about, but for good reason, because it is, especially in a Formula One car, you know, you're flat in eighth gear all the way until Beckett's. Where's it go? Maggots? Beckett's?

Chapel? Yep. Can we go back one corner to Copse? Do we include Copse in this great section?

You can include Copse. The thing is now the cars are so quick, Copse is very close. I'm presuming this year it's going to be flat. But it depends enough on wind. If you have a headwind, it's flat quite easily.

If you have a tailwind... How difficult, Lando, is it to keep your right foot flat through cops 185 miles an hour? It depends what the bet's on with your teammate. And there's little things, you know, like who does the tunnel in Monaco flat first and who does this and that.

So I feel like, yeah, who does cops first is one of them. But how much are you... feeling through the car at that point or is it so glued that you're just doing it because you know it can do it rather than the feel you're getting from the car um i mean it's so quick you almost have to commit and then find out what happens rather than the opposite you try to anticipate things when you're going at those speeds being able to react in the time is so difficult because it's what 290 300 probably as you enter it um eighth gear but i feel like the best description of it is you see the consequence of When Max and Lewis came together and how big of a crash that was for Max. And that's, you know, after a slide and then you go through the gravel a bit and then you hit the barrier. But you would say like one of the biggest impacts you've seen in Formula One for a very long time.

So that's when you see like what it is doing, you know. Does it make you stop and think? Every now and then.

But at the same time, I think when you get back in the car, you just get so back into the zone. The thing I always use is, would someone else lift less than me? I always feel like I have to say yes. Or would someone else brake later than me here?

And I feel like out of the 20 drivers on the grid, someone's probably going to push it that little bit more. And I'll be thinking of this like, you know, 100 metres before the corner. But that would be my little thought, just not be a wimp and back off more than I should or brake too early is, do I think someone else might be better?

You know, do you think Max should brake that little bit later or lift less? And I kind of force the answer to be a yes. And then that's the little...

the little kick that i need to make sure i try to not lift more than i should but it goes through your head all these little things even if people say it doesn't they're lying because uh because it does we're focusing on cops maggots beckett's chapel the quickest section of track when it comes to car setup where do you focus do you need it to be good through those corners to be quick over a lap or is it the slow stuff in the arena complex at the start of the lap it's more um As annoying as it is, it's the slow speed. Like, even when you feel like, nah, no one's done Magus Beckett's Chapel Stowe quicker than that, it's rare that you ever gain more than half a tenth to a tenth on people, you know. If you do, then it's quite a big, big change.

The high speed is, yeah, where you gain a lot less lap time than you do in the slow speed, simple as that. So then you always kind of have to focus a bit on it, but... You know that's where there can be much bigger consequences if things go wrong. So you still need the confidence in the car, you need the consistency. And especially because Silverstone can be pretty windy too.

It's quite an open track, quite flat. When you start having the wind start to come into play, that's when things get twice as tricky as what they normally are. And then that's sometimes when you wish, I wish I made the car a little bit more stable in the high speed and things like that. So yeah, you have it.

But slow speed... generally is where you kind of put a bit more focus, but you then have the challenge of, do you go high downforce, lower downforce? You go low downforce, you're getting in all the strays, but you make the life in Maggots, Beckett's, Chapelstow a lot more nerve-wracking. All these kind of question marks you have to put together.

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With real-time data and actionable insights, Formula One puts every fan in the cockpit. Visit salesforce.com slash F1 to learn more about how Formula One wows fans and grows its global fan base with Salesforce. Right, so what about yours and McLaren's chances at Silverstone? Message to your fans, what can they expect?

Austria was our first, say, decent upgrade on the car. With more coming this weekend? With more coming this weekend.

So if there's any time when people should be a bit more excited about things, it's come at the right time. In my opinion, I would love to be able to take that next step and show what the car can do a bit more and have a better result. Where can we finish? I have no idea.

I'm never very good at this. I'm always wrong. But yeah, if there's any time when we can maybe expect a bit more from us as a team and from me as a driver, I guess, as my home race, it's here in Silverstone.

Well, sixth last year, fourth the year before. Yeah. So you know how to score points. I can't remember.

I forgot that I was fourth. You know, it's one position off being on the podium in my British Grand Prix. Yeah, I mean, it's... Do you actually think being serious, it is... just still too far away given the competitiveness of Red Bull, of Aston Martin, of Ferrari, of Mercedes.

I mean, those were the days when the car was, yeah, it like, I mean, just as a thing, it was, we were a bit more competitive then, you know, I had four podiums that year. The car was extremely good in high speed corners. That was, we were one of the strongest on the grid in high speed. We were reasonably good in the straights at the same time.

So we kind of had a very good car that worked well at Silverstone. Like last year, we've had this car, which is a bit more draggy, a bit more inconsistent. Less efficient and then we pay the price quite heavily in such a track where you want to be very good in the straights but you need to have a car that performs in the high speed and we kind of lacked that a bit last year.

Do you take some confidence from what happened in Barcelona? And Lando Norris with his best qualifying of the season And you are the queen You are the queen What? Still?

Interesting Good job mate, very good job Let's go baby okay it didn't go so well on sunday but there were lots of factors including you know rubbing wheels with lewis and things but the car was quick through quick corners yeah in barcelona does that give you some hope for silverstone absolutely at times we've been close to being one of the best cars in high speed corners i guess sometimes it's for different reasons but it's always been a very good strength for us so i'm i want to take from what we've what we've learned in in austria where i'm sure we you know we were one of the best in high speed have been for many many years and and silverstone too we're generally one of the best cars in magus beckett's cops stow i feel like stow is what cops maybe used to be like uh in a way because it's sixth gear uh end of australia very small break It feels like one of the most challenging corners. So I want to be confident that the car is going to be good in these places. And therefore, we can hopefully translate it into a good result too.

But look, until this moment, let's look at the first third of this year. In terms of the number of points you've scored after seven races, the MCL60 hasn't served you well. It's the fewest you've scored in your five years in Formula One. Does that make this car the least competitive you've driven?

thus far in your career or have there been mitigating circumstances? I mean we've definitely been unlucky at times but it's more that every other team is doing decent you know we've got the budget cap coming into play more and more so the smaller things which maybe didn't matter quite as much in previous years you pay the price for now more than ever and there's no let's say struggling or bad team in Formula One like there maybe has been a bit more of over the last three four years now if you're a couple tenths off you can genuinely be in last place. If you put a lap together, you can get into Q3 and you can almost look like a hero. So it's not that everyone else is doing extremely well. No one's doing badly.

So when you just turn over a car which is put together that's quite right, you then have to say it's a car that didn't perform as well and is the least competitive. So I would agree with it. And it's been definitely the hardest, toughest start to a Formula 1 season that I've had.

And how hard is that for you to deal with? I think what's made it worse is the fact that we were kind of on the up. You know, I had, what, four or five podiums and things were looking like they were heading all in the right direction.

Then it took a decent hit last year. Everything you feel like you were getting close to, then just you kind of lost it again. So that success, the smiles, the champagne, all of that, like everyone loves it.

That's what we kind of live for every weekend. And when it's like not even close, it's so far away. It is tough, like just mentally.

You put so much effort into it every weekend, but everyone, it's not just me, it's every engineer, every mechanic, everyone back in the factory puts so much effort in, and just when things aren't going right, you just don't feel like you get rewarded for the time and effort that goes into everything. So rewards and feeling like you've achieved something makes it massive. difference and when you don't you just feel like so much goes in and very little ever comes out but you just kind of have to use that to keep pushing through things and just know and have the faith and belief that uh things will turn around at some point the rain has come down and hamilton takes the lead of the race as lando norris slides off the track This could have been win number one. Without the rain, it would have been win number one.

When you were last on the show, you said that Russia 2021 was the race that you should have won and the rain fell and we know what happened there. But do you feel further away from that first win now than you did a year ago when you were last on Beyond the Grid? Yeah, confidently I can say yes, as much as it hurts me to say it. That car that season was, you know, we were seven hundredths of pole or even less back in Austria. That was my first podium that year.

We were close to pole or we got pole in in Russia, close to winning my first race in Russia. Imola was almost a front road start and then got deleted for track limits. So we were close very often to these kind of success stories and now we struggle to get in the top 10 half the time. The first time I've been out of Q1, like just on general performances, and I think I've been out what three, four times or something now. So yes, by quite a long way.

And it is a long, long way from where we were and having any chance of being on the podium. A driver's lifespan in Formula One is limited, although the old guard seems to be going on and on when you look at Fernando, Alonso and Lewis Hamilton. But time is of the essence.

Are you getting impatient? I was impatient in year one. I would say yes. Formula One just isn't as simple as what everyone wishes it is or thinks it is at times.

And you can be lucky, you know, Lewis came into McLaren when they were winning races, winning championships. So for someone to say, are you trying to emulate Lewis Hamilton? I mean, I wish I could say yes, but at the same time, if I had the thought I'm the best driver in the world, or even if you put the best driver in the world in the car I have now.

Not going to have won races and not going to have achieved a lot more, I feel, than what I have. You have to be lucky. You have to have things go your way.

Fernando's one of the best drivers ever in Formula 1. And everyone's said, whether it's his fault or not, that he's made wrong decisions with teams that he's joined and so on. And he's kind of should have scored five world championships. And he's only got two.

He's got two. It's just complicated. But at the same time, you just have to learn that being patient, learn to be patient is a part of... What do you got to do when you enter Formula One?

Every other category before that you kind of, if you're not winning, it's maybe a little bit because of the car, but also because of you. Whereas Formula One, you can be the best driver in the world, and if you don't have the car behind you, you're not going to win one race. The life of teams and cars is unfair in Formula One, but it also is what makes it special, is what makes it so difficult and one of the most difficult sports to enter and be a part of in the world.

How did you feel when George Russell... won in Brazil last year. I was very happy for him.

I love George as much as I do want to beat him and compete against him and so on. I'm just a driver that has a lot of respect for those kind of people, you know. I have a lot of respect for the people I've grown up with, the people that I know are there because of their talent, their work ethic, and George is one of them. So as much as at times, yeah, I'm sure I wished, everyone probably wishes that they could win a race.

There's always a little bit of like that. That envy that's like my, you know, I feel like I also could have won if I was in this position but At the same time, I just try to not think of it at all. I don't want to think about it, because I just want to do the best job I can with what I got. At the end of the day, I was very happy for him. He's showing what he can do.

I'm a tough loser, but I'm not a sore loser. I just have respect. I have respect for the people I work with and the people who achieve things, because they deserve to have achieved those things. Let's throw it forward then and look ahead at what's coming at McLaren.

You've got upgrades. at Silverstone next weekend I think there's even more coming in Hungary as well the weekend after that so hopefully the team will get some momentum yeah and then there's been a lot made of some high-profile technical signings but they're not going to be joining until the start of next year right I just wanted to get your thoughts on the trajectory that McLaren is on are you happy to wait till 2025 which is going to be the first time we see All the new people that... Whether I'm happy or not, my contract's in 25. So I'm part of McLaren, I'm in Papaya until the end of 25. I mean, I really look forward to those times, but there's plenty of things that we can be and are doing better now without these people.

We cannot blame... Our performance, because we don't have this person or that person, there's other things that we just should have done better for many years in the first place. So, always additions and great minds and talented people like this are going to have a big effect.

Help us and wind tunnel simulator, all these things are going to have an effect. Again, I'm not that kind of person that thinks what is going to happen in that time. Maybe when you have to think about it, when you're forced to think about it, then you have to go in and think about it.

In a time when I'm in a team that I want to be part of, I want to win with, I don't get too caught up with what's happened and what is going to happen. I'm very much a guy that just lives in the now and yeah, whether I'm sad or not or good or not, I don't know. That's just the way I live my life, but of course I get excited by it and I look forward to those times. It gives me a good boost, it gives everyone in the whole team a good boost.

It gives me more reasons to want to continue into the future, but there's always a time when it comes to a decision that has to be made. Nothing needs to happen now, so I'm happy. What about your status within the team? You've jumped up the pecking order, I feel, since we were last together doing one of these, in that you are now number one driver.

Well, how is that experience for you? It depends how you look at it. Not once as a team have we ever said number one or number two. That's a rule that we've had in McLaren since I've joined, I think even before I've joined.

Maybe that was the wrong word then. Maybe I should have said senior driver. Yeah. Yeah, I think that's a much better way of putting it.

Just simply more experienced, senior driver, guy who's been in Formula 1 for longer, guy who's been part of the McLaren team for much longer. But that's it. The rest is, you know, of course the team rely on me.

Do you enjoy that responsibility? I guess it adds that responsibility to me. And I do feel like I've had to step up and pay more attention to more things. But I wouldn't say it's too different this year to what I had last year or even the year prior to that.

I feel like already then I was the guy who maybe wasn't the more experienced guy in Formula One, but was the guy who was more experienced with the team. I felt in a comfortable position with the team for the last two years. And I felt like I was already in a bit of that space of trying to guide the team back then. It's just that now I'm the older driver.

That's the only thing in my head that really has changed that much. The rest of it is just things that people want to make up and talk about. That responsibility is simply the biggest word and the most accurate word is responsibility. And I've had to just step up a little bit into that role, but not a lot more than I was last year and back in 21 too. Do you feel there's more pressure on you now?

I think that it's inevitable because I'm the older driver and there's a younger driver next to me. I'd be lying if they said there wasn't, but I would say there's more pressure, but does it affect me? No. I think, yeah, you'd be lying if you said there wasn't any more pressure on it, but it's just...

Does it affect you? Does it make you feel a different way? Then I would just say not. If anything, it motivates you more to put that extra little thing in or work on that little thing or question it or just get every little thing out of the car that you can.

It's more of a motivation, kick in the backside kind of thing rather than are you worried because of this or because of that. So you enjoy pressure? I would say I enjoy it. I think you almost have to enjoy it in Formula 1. There's so much of it with...

with the life that you, not your force to live, but what comes just with the job of being a Formula One driver. Kind of then the life you live and the eyes that are on you, the cameras, all of this stuff, and just being, what, 20 drivers in the world? Plenty more that want to be in that seat and will do everything in the world to be in that seat.

There's always the pressure that lives with you every single day, but it's kind of learning how to use it or how to deal with it and how to forget about it. People deal with it better than others. But I feel like I'm in a point now where I don't think about it too much, really at all in a way.

I'm just happy to... The pressure you don't think about. How are you coping with fame? Depends how you look at it.

Do I just love the fact that people support me or... Yeah, I want to take pictures or I don't know for the support side of it of the fame. Do you love it?

Like I love it. I think it's an amazing thing that people are there for you but i'm i've always been like a Quite an introverted kind of guy not the best with crap and people um as much as uh it sounds like probably the opposite of how you have to be in formula one i've never been that much of that kind of guy i've learned to deal better with it this is a really interesting point because i've always thought drivers needed to be extroverts to show people what they can do in a racing car to want yeah in a funny kind of way almost want to show off go on i can do this I'm the best in the world, leave me at it. Yeah, but I don't know why. I'm quite interested that you're an introvert. I don't know.

I've just never been that kind of person. I want to be the best in the world. I want to prove to people, but I've never had the mentality or the confidence to have to say that or feel like I need to do anything more than normal to show it to people. Like I know what I think and what I want to achieve in the back of my mind. And so do I guess to the people that I work with and the team that I work with and the people I have around me.

But do I have to do anything to... go over the top and show that and prove it i don't think so you know you have a lot of old drivers like um not all drivers but people who just like uh say you know you got to be brutal and you got to have this mentality and that and this and whatever but i just don't think it's true at all i think um you just got to get in the car and do the best you can i want to beat everyone as much as i have respect for people outside of the track and i get along with carlos and george and alex and lewis and whatever doesn't change how i you want to how much i want to beat them on track if anything i want to meet them even more so i yeah i've just never been that kind of person if people say i don't look like i have the right mentality or i don't look aggressive enough blah blah like that's just their opinion at the end of the day we saw some good moves from you in canada as we do most races i think there's no danger of that lando no i like i know i am but i i guess people will always say i hate the saying but i try to do the talking on the track This episode is brought to you by Salesforce, the official CRM technology partner of Formula 1. With Salesforce, Formula 1 has the real-time data and actionable insights it needs to turbocharge fan engagement. From race day updates to perfectly personalized offers, Formula 1 delivers experiences that turn new fans into loyal ones. Visit salesforce.com slash F1 to learn more. about how Formula One wows fans and grows its global fan base with Salesforce.

What about the talking off the track? You have a hell of a reach now. What is it, more than six million on Instagram, two and a half million on Twitter, and everything else you've got going on in your world.

Do you fully appreciate... the reach that you have now yeah i feel like i've i've used it for times in covid and whether it's charity things or mental health side of things i feel like i've used it to help these things or to portray things or give my views i don't feel like i have to use it or that i necessarily want to use it as much as it's kind of it is a little bit part of what you kind of got to do in in formula one and it adds to your brand and all of this and so forth so i think i i think i do you I think I realize but like if someone calls me famous or a celebrity I hate when people say oh you're a celeb or um you're so famous like um I don't know I just try to be as normal as possible I don't want to stand out too much as much as I at times like it and people are like oh can we get a picture and things then you're like oh you appreciate it but um I wouldn't say like uh I love it and I want it if that makes sense for all the positives of social media It can also be quite a toxic place. Do you look at what's written and said about you?

All the time. Do you really? No, I do. You do actually look?

No, I do. I love it. I love it. I love reading all the bad things. Are you actually being serious?

I guess 2019, 2020, like I would read something and I'd be like, why is this person that said this or done that? Like, I almost cared too much about what people think. And be careful how I say it because people are going to headline it and go, oh, London doesn't care about it. But you have to learn to... to listen to the people that you respect understand what people are saying but at the same time when you know someone has no idea about something or just says it simply because they're idiots or they've got nothing else to do uh that's positive you know like i don't i don't get why people would waste want to waste time of their life their one life that they live why people like even want to spend time doing these things you know writing bad stuff and trying to find bad things and make bad situations like People are actually choosing to spend their life, their one life on earth, doing such things, which makes absolutely no sense to me.

So I got to a point now where I really enjoy seeing what people write about me. Of course, I love the good things and it's great to read at times. You just have to, like, I've just learned to laugh and make fun of the bad things because I just feel sorry for the person who's actually had to come up with that stuff in the first place, that that's brought amusement to them and they think that's like a, I don't know. Do you use the negativity as a source of motivation or do you just ignore it?

I mainly try to ignore it. I guess I read it, so I don't completely ignore it, but I ignore the impact or the effect that it has on me. But I really am a person who cares a lot about what people think and I never want to look bad or say the wrong thing. And I feel like I'm always very honest with things.

And therefore, sometimes I say things that, not that I shouldn't, but things that are just true and genuine. We just live in a world now more and more where I know you just have to say things that everyone agrees with. People can't have just an opinion to them.

It has to be something that every human on earth has to agree with. And if it's not something like that, then there are people that are going to say that you're disrespectful and blah, blah, blah. But I just try to get on with my life and I say it because that's my opinion.

And they can just agree with it or disagree with it and move on from that. If you had kids now, what advice would you give them? about social media yeah i don't want to think of that just yet having um yeah well both uh i mean i love kids my brother's just had a second baby um and they're the cutest things on earth so are you a good uncle i'm i think i'm a great uncle as much as babies always cry when they see me uh i feel like i'm i'm good with them um i like even you know my manager i've grown up with my manager for the last what 10 Even longer, almost 11 years or something and he's had three kids since so yeah like just kind of growing up with them a little bit even when I was a kid I don't feel like I was much older than what they were but growing up with them and just I look forward to that part of my life in a way, as much as I'm 23 and I don't want to think of it.

Yeah, I look forward to it. I do think, you know, I see Max and his father or people whose fathers were in Formula 1. And, you know, whether it was like Schumacher 2, like I'm curious to think like what it's like in the future. What kind of dad do you think you're going to be? I'm going to be a strict dad.

I'll tell you that. I feel like I have good opinions on things. My parents brought me up, I think, very well. I get that in my...

data was successful and things like that and people always try to turn that into a bad thing about the person but um i think i have like respect i think i have uh good manners i think i've um yeah i do everything that i that i need and i don't get into people's faces too much and blah blah um i keep to myself all the time so i just take what my parents taught me simply and i'll do the best thing best job i can to uh ingrain that to to the kids i have in the future and back to the original question gosh we've gone off we're talking about kids and families the advice you'd give your kids about social media yes um i mean a lot of it comes to them at the time and i feel like what this i don't know if it's gonna be 10 years 20 years or whatever as it's quite difficult to see the landscape yeah i don't know i don't know what it's going to be like then if you think to 10 15 years ago from now like a completely different world so No idea. I don't want to think about it too much. But, you know, at times you've got to learn about it. I think you can just protect everyone from everything. I think there's a certain amount of that.

But there's a certain amount of, like, you've got to go through the hard times to realize them and realize what are good and bad and all of those things make you learn. So I don't think you can ever be, you almost don't ever want to be perfect. But I'll just do my best.

That's simple. That's my only answer. Let's talk teammates now.

You've swapped one Aussie for another, Daniel Ricciardo. Yes. Oscar Piastri for Daniel Ricciardo no other way around which way around Daniel for Oscar Oscar Piastri is now your teammate yes what similarities do Oscar and Daniel share they're Australian but they're very different Australians they're like the complete opposite they couldn't be more opposite I think both lovely people but both yeah like Oscar's extremely down to earth I feel a bit like me just a very normal just a guy who's in Formula 1 just a guy who loves to drive cars and compete against people and that's it you know that's just what he loves to do um and there's not a lot more to it in terms of what he tries to achieve the rest is him just being a lovely person he had along very well both guys that uh have a lot of respect both guys you can enjoy spending time with and enjoy both here at the track and also back home um or away wherever you are you're only one year older than oscar whereas the age gap was what 10 years between you and daniel how does that change the dynamic between you do you feel you've got more in common with oscar because a little bit it's a tough one i don't i don't feel like many things are too different i feel like the way that people portray the relationship is different i'm sure like when you think dan daniel's what 30 31 32 then there was 21 22 yeah i don't know i feel like when you're way older then there's almost more pressure on the older person than ever on a younger person And I guess there's a little bit, like we just spoke about, there's a little bit of that now, probably a lot less than being 32 against a 22-year-old. But yeah, I guess we're still into our different things a little bit.

Both guys, I just get on really well with. I went to dinner with Daniel the other night in Monaco, so I still get on really well with him. Do you race Oscar on the sim?

No. I don't know if Oscar's got it. I think he might have just got a sim. No, I mean, generally I've not been into doing that as much, actually.

I'm just spending a bit more time out with my friends and traveling, going to see my family a bit more. I just haven't spent as much time on computers, electronics. I kind of drifted away a little bit from that.

I'm more a golf family friends. For me, that's the, not in that order, but family friends is for me the most important thing. So spending more time with them as a person than staying at home playing computer games.

Lando, it's been really great to catch up with you again. thank you final one from me are the goals the same for you now as they were when you came into the sport in 2019 100 i say yeah i'm more determined i have better knowledge now of how to achieve them when what all of it i feel like i'm in a much maybe not more competitive position but uh personally in a much better position than i ever have been and the knowledge of how to achieve them i feel like i have a much better understanding of so um Being a world champion, winning for my team that I drive for. Simply, those are the two goals I have at the minute.

Multiple world champion would be nice, but I'll start off with one. Best of luck with that and enjoy Silverstone. I shall do.

Thank you so much, everyone. In the right car, I have no doubt that Lando can win multiple world titles. But that's the thing about Formula 1. Drivers need to be in the right place at the right time. Let's hope McLaren are edging their way back towards the front.

It's always fun to sit down with Lando. He continues to come across as very honest and straightforward, and also very relaxed. He says in that chat that family and friends are the most important thing for him, away from the racetrack.

And I think we can all agree that Lando would be good fun on a night out. And it's no wonder that he's kept in touch with Daniel Ricciardo. Lando, many thanks for your time. And as I said at the end of our chat, enjoy your weekend at Silverstone. Now, please send in your thoughts and stories about Lando.

What did you think of our conversation? What do you think of the season he and McLaren are having in 2023? And do you think Lando can win with McLaren?

Let me know through... all the usual means. I'm at TomClarksonF1 on Twitter, or you can use the hashtag F1BeyondTheGrid. Which brings us on to what you sent in about James Vowles after last week's show.

Williams is in safe hands, seems to be the overriding opinion from your messages. Let's start with this from Will Williams. No relation, I'm guessing, Will.

What an incredibly inspirational character. James is a natural leader and figurehead. that will definitely put Williams on an upward path. I especially enjoyed learning about his journey into Formula One.

Amazing pod, Tom. I loved it. Well, thank you for that, Will. And I agree with you, James is inspirational and I think he's exactly what that team needs now.

And what about this from Carl Lawrence? The more I hear James speak about Williams and his approach to rebuilding the team, the more I'm assured he is absolutely the right person to lead the team and continue the legacy of... the Williams family. I can't wait to see the results. Thank you, Carl.

It will be interesting to watch the team's journey over the next 18 months, won't it? And finally, here's Gapson76. James is such a positive force in the team. He has this energy in him that is such a breath of fresh air. There's no doubt that James works hard.

Did you know that he keeps a notebook by his bed so that if he wakes up in the night with an idea, he'll remember it in the morning? Look, thank you for all your messages, as ever. I haven't got time to read them all out, but I do read them, and I love reading them because many of you are really insightful. Well, that's almost it for this week. Thank you for listening.

And before I go, please remember that F1 Nation's review of the Austrian Grand Prix is out now. We're actually joined by McLaren team principal Andrea Stella to reflect on Lando's impressive weekend at the Red Bull Ring. And this week's Formula Y podcast is all about wind tunnels.

And that's out on Friday. Catch you all again next week when I'll be joined by another great guest from the world of Formula One. Beyond the Grid is produced by Formula One and Audioboom Studios.

Until next time, keep it flat out.

Transcript for:Lando Norris: Aspiration and Fan Influence

Transcript for:
Lando Norris: Aspiration and Fan Influence