In the round-up: Lando Norris says he wanted to gain his place in Formula 1 on merit, not because of his father’s wealth.
In brief
I never wanted dad to buy me an F1 drive – Norris
Norris’ father Adam had an estimated wealth of £200 million when his son Lando joined McLaren’s junior driver programme in 2017. But while the family funded Norris’ ascent to Formula 2, he says he wanted people to recognise his ability is the reason he reached the top and not make “comments of I’m in the position of where I am because of [my dad].”
“I never wanted him to pay for me to come into Formula 1,” Norris told the High Performance Podcast. “That was one goal. He could support me until Formula 1, or let’s say to Formula 2, to get to that point, give me those opportunities and so on.
“But I personally, as a feeling, I wouldn’t want to come into Formula 1 having to pay for it. [It was a] bit of a mentality thing, not have the mentality of ‘I’m not here because I don’t deserve it, I’m here because I’ve paid for it’. I never really wanted that at all.
“I feel much prouder to say that I’m here because McLaren brought me on and I was a McLaren junior driver. They brought me on, I got better, and then I was the official driver. It makes me much happier saying that then the opposite one.”
However Norris acknowledged he was fortunate to have more support earlier in his career than some of his rivals. “I have to know that to a certain extent I’m lucky for the opportunities that I got and the fact he could just support me into Formula 2 was already a lot more than the what people get. So, I also know that on the flip side.”
I’ve only urinated in an F1 car once – Hamilton
Lewis Hamilton says he’s only succumbed to the temptation to relieve himself during a grand prix once in his 340-race career.
“I never drink in the car, I just forget most of the time, so I usually have that weight taken out,” he told Hot Ones. “It’s only like 500ml. But other drivers, quite a lot of drivers as far as I’m aware, pee in the car.”
“I’ve drunk a lot before, so literally just before we get in the car, I go as many times as possible right at the last minute, but I just can’t bring myself to pee myself,” he said.
However he admitted “I have once, it was Singapore. It was like two or three years ago. The Safety Car came out and I was like, ‘I’m dying’. And honestly, when your bladder’s full with the G-Force that you’re pulling is the most uncomfortable [thing].”
“You just can’t focus on your job,” he added. “So I remember trying to go and I really had to force it. But luckily I have had to do it like I only once.”
Injured Pin to miss FREC round and Le Mans
Doriane Pin will miss the upcoming Formula Regional European Championship round at Zandvoort after fracturing her ribs at Spa. She will also be forced to sit out the Le Mans 24 Hours but expects to return for the F1 Academy round supporting the Spanish Grand Prix.
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Links
Motor racing links of interest:
Africa’s new F1 fans who want a race on the continent (BBC)
‘Toby Venter, head of the OT Venter group of companies, which owns the Kyalami circuit, says that the mooted attendance of Russian President Vladimir Putin at a summit in South Africa plus the docking of a Russian ship at a naval base scuppered the plans.’
‘Anthoine (Hubert) was a terrific guy on and off track and it was such a cruel set of circumstances. I knew instantly it would be serious and then I felt an immense responsibility to the championship and my broadcast team. At that point you push all the emotion out and just deal in the facts that you have available.’
Vesti: ‘My focus is Formula 1’ (Formula Scout)
‘If you ask any team principal if they want to sign the exact same (quality) driver, but one who doesn’t do anything, who’s just doing the reserve driver, the simulator, (versus) the same driver but (driving) different cars, different championships, plus the simulator plus reserve and he’s keeping sharp driving on new tyres and challenging himself and staying sharp mentally, I’m pretty sure they’ll choose the driver who continues to work on himself and continues to push the limits of a race car.’
Formula 4 stars set to shine bright on FIA Motorsport Games stage (FIA)
‘To further level the playing field, data from the fastest car in each practice session will be made available to every driver in the field to study and review.’
Nato: Shanghai podium ‘feels good after the hard work’ (Formula E)
‘For Portland, we’re predicting it to be similar (to Shanghai) in terms of energy-saving races, so strategy will be really important.’
Mick Schumacher: ‘WEC is a great championship to be part of’ (FIA WEC)
‘The A424 is a very pointy race car. It’s a car that likes to be driven to a good point where it is aggressive. Hopefully, we’ll be able to extract some more pace out of it. It’s a great car in the way that it is set up, especially for some of the events that we’re going to.’
Pruett’s cooldown lap: Indy 500 (Racer)
‘Larson did the opposite. He walked in looking somewhat embarrassed and made a specific point to apologise in the sincerest manner to us for being late. It wasn’t a throwaway line; he wanted to be sure his apology registered.’
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