In Miami, Lando Norris managed to finally achieve his first F1 victory. A very nice moment, but he also realizes that that F1 victory came about because he received support from McLaren years ago. Norris is still proud that he got into F1 because of his talent and not because of any financial support from his father.
Norris admits that during his early years in the junior racing classes he mainly received financial support from his father, but eventually he received the support of McLaren. He was included in McLaren’s young driver program and Norris eventually made his F1 debut at the age of 19 in 2019, something he is still proud of.
“I never wanted my father to pay for me to get into Formula 1,” Norris recently said in the ‘High Performance Podcast’. “That was a goal.”
“He was able to support me all the way to Formula 1, or let’s say all the way to Formula 2, to get to that point, to give me these opportunities and so on.”
“But personally I wouldn’t have felt good if he had paid for my F1 participation. It’s a mental aspect, not having the mentality of ‘I’m not here because I don’t deserve it, I’m here because I paid for it’ I wouldn’t have wanted that at all.”
“I feel a lot more proud to be able to say that I am here because McLaren brought me here and because I was a McLaren junior.”
“They took me on board, I got better, and then I became an official rider. It makes me much happier that I can say that than the opposite.”