Max Verstappen could have looked like he was having a bad day this Sunday. Beaten consistently for the first time this season, the three-time reigning world champion had to settle for second place at the Miami Grand Prix. But the Dutchman was smiling at the finish, his face brightening to have made way on the first step of the podium to Lando Norris.
“I’m very happy to be beaten by Lando. He’s been waiting for this for a long time and it certainly won’t be his last victory,” enthused the Red Bull driver. And for good reason, the two rivals this Sunday cultivate a great friendship off the track.
Formula 1 fans are even used to finding them until late at night on the racing simulation video game iRacing, and even during Grand Prix weekends. “I get along well with Lando because he is authentic and natural. He is one of my closest comrades on the grid. He is passionate about what he does,” Max Verstappen had already explained.
“If any one of us was going to taste victory, it had to be him!” »
But he is not the only one to hold Lando Norris in high esteem. The British driver has quickly become one of the little darlings of the paddock since his arrival in 2019. 110 starts, 15 podiums and 8 second places later, his first success therefore logically caused a big sensation among the drivers.
As soon as the checkered flag passed, and after seeing Verstappen stand at his height to congratulate him, Norris saw one of his examples in F1 Lewis Hamilton also come to applaud him. “I’m so happy for Lando. His first victory is so deserved,” explained the seven-time world champion, compatriot of the McLaren driver.
Upon his arrival at the garage, the McLaren protégé then found himself in the arms of Fernando Alonso then Carlos Sainz, his former teammate when he arrived in F1. The “bromance” between the two men, in orange for two seasons, quickly spread on social networks. “CONGRATS CABRÓN” (“Congratulations bastard”, in French) kindly tweeted the Ferrari driver accompanied by a photo of the two, arm in arm.
A bromance highlighted in the Netflix series “Drive to Survive”, in which we cultivate the image of a young wolf with long teeth, a tad arrogant and mocking, but always with a smile on his lips. A personality who quickly convinced fans and drivers.
Twitch, confinement and mental health
The only problem in his friendships in the paddock: his complicated relationship with Daniel Ricciardo, Sainz’s successor for a time at McLaren. This is no longer the case today. The Australian was even very happy to see his old rival win: “That’s something that makes me smile. When you’re teammates, you know people a little better. I saw his talent and agility on the track. I always knew it was a matter of time to win. As for the drivers, we knew it. If there was one of us who was going to taste victory, it had to be him! »
Very popular in the paddock, Lando Norris is above all very close to the small group of drivers of the same generation, alongside whom he learned in the lower categories such as Charles Leclerc, Alexander Albon and George Russell. “We’ve been racing against each other for a long time; he worked so hard and I had no doubt that he would win in F1. All things considered, he should probably already have more than one victory under his belt,” the latter congratulated him.
The four acolytes had regularly appeared together during confinement on Twitch. Lando Norris even ended up shaving his head live to collect donations to fight Covid-19. Also involved in the subject of drivers’ mental health, Lando Norris has become in six seasons and at the age of 24 one of the stars of the paddock. To the point of seeing Donald Trump come to greet him in person before the race, and just after his victory.
Even Frédéric Vasseur, the boss of Ferrari and rival this year of McLaren for second place in the drivers’ championship, came to make his way into the celebrations of the opposing team to pour his small batch of champagne on their head. Because with Norris’ victory, the whole of F1 was celebrating this Sunday.
