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“We have a ton of fun, just ribbing each other the entire time,” Brown says of his golfing exploits with Norris. “He’s a good golfer, when he hits it straight,” he laughs. “You can see the talent is there, but he’s only in his second season. He’s rapidly getting quicker and better with his hand-eye coordination… [he’ll] be a proper golfer in not too long.”
McLaren has a long and winning history (183 total race wins, 12 Drivers’ Championships and 8 Constructors’ Championships, to be precise). Many of the best drivers in history have raced for them: Lauda, Senna, Häkkinen, Coulthard, Button, Hamilton. However, among fans, there is the belief that McLaren has lost some of that magic. Having not won a WWC title (ie won an entire season) since 1998, and coming 4th and 5th in 2021 and 2022, McLaren has recently been positioned as “the best of the rest” behind Red Bull, Ferrari, and Mercedes.
Fans believe Norris has every chance of bringing McLaren a title, if only he is given the machinery to back him up. A few days after our conversation, Norris makes headlines when he claims that his 2022 McLaren MCL36 is the “furthest away from what [he wants]” in a race car, indicating a preference for speed over comfort. Brown is aware of the issues, but is adamant that once Norris has the right set of wheels, he will go all the way. “I think he’s got another ten to 15 years ahead of him,” Brown tells me. “I think as long as we can get him a car, he’ll be a world champion.”
It’s redundant to state that Norris wants to become the best driver in the world—no one dedicates their life to what is probably the most dangerous sport in the world to continue coming second. Yet Norris is surprisingly candid in admitting that while he thinks he has a good chance of winning a race this year, his best chance at a championship win won’t come until 2024, or, more likely, 2025. “With everything I’ve learned, maybe I could win a race, but I’m unlikely to win a championship until possibly that time,” he says. “I know I need to be at the absolute top of my game in those years.” Machinery aside, all that really needs to happen for Norris to succeed is for him to stay the course.
“He takes the things that he needs to take seriously, very seriously,” Brown explains. “But he also knows that we’re in a fun business, racing cars.”
This might not be Norris’s season. It might not even be next season. But he’s confident that losses—like breakdowns—are just part of learning. The key thing is to get back behind the wheel and keep going. “I hate losing,” Norris says. “But losing gives me the drive to figure it out and do a better job next time.”
This story originally ran on British GQ with the title “Lando Norris is coming in hot”
PRODUCTION CREDITS
Photographs by Thomas Chéné
Styled by Itunu Oke
Styling assistant Melissa Ewing
Grooming by Paul Donovan
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Tom Ward
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