Lando Norris has expressed that he got the chance to “relive” the scenes that he grew up watching in Formula 1 with his “special” maiden win in the British Grand Prix.
The Briton had lined up in third place, but he capitalised on Red Bull’s Max Verstappen spinning and team-mate Oscar Piastri being penalised to triumph on home soil.
Norris strengthened his championship hopes as he bridged the gap to Piastri to eight points with McLaren’s first success at Silverstone since Lewis Hamilton in 2008.
Having been eight when Hamilton scooped his inaugural victory at the Northamptonshire track, Norris shared his pride at emulating the now seven-time F1 champion.
“Where do I start?” Norris began to media including Motorsport Week. “I mean, eventful race, eventful race.
“It means a huge amount. At the end of the day, being on top in your home race is very, very special.
“I said in some of the other interviews, this is where it all started for me, I was watching on TV, I was watching, you know, all those many years ago.
“Lewis, Jenson [Button], Fernando [Alonso]… I think it was that extremely wet race year – 2007 or 8? – that’s when I really started watching Formula 1.
“I think Lewis won and I got that picture of him going around and seeing all the fans standing up and that picture of what an atmosphere in Silverstone is like.
“And I dreamed of that for many, many years and today I got to relive that feeling myself and I see it through my own eyes, so pretty amazing, pretty special.
“A lot of people from my friends and family, my brother, my sisters, my mum, my dad, my dad’s parents, yeah, every person I could have here is here, so more special than ever.”
Norris recalls close shaves en route to home win
Norris avoided the mistakes that his rivals – including his team-mate – made in the variable conditions, though he revealed there were occasions where he came close.
“I think as a team, we did a very good job,” he reviewed. “I was pretty happy with everything.
“I think we made the right calls at the right time. Probably could have boxed for slicks a couple of laps before we did.
“But, you know, the first part of the race, Oscar and Max were fighting quite a lot, and I was pretty patient. I didn’t push too much.
“I tried to look after my tyres a little bit more for some of the later stages when it started to rain again, but it was probably the wrong thing to do. I probably should’ve just pushed because we went onto another set of Inters.
“It’s just tough to not crash in these conditions. It sounds so obvious and easy, but the amount of moments you have, at Turn 1, the aquaplaning in 2 , the aquaplaning into 9, where [Isack] Hadjar crashed – you don’t realise how close sometimes we are to crashing and it all being in the bin in a matter of tenths.
“They are scary moments inside, but then they excite you in a way, and then you open your eyes, you concentrate again. It’s scary and thrilling at the same time.
“But they’re also fun races, but they take a lot out of you in one single race.
“So, a lot of decisions, but I think as a team, we talked through things perfectly well and we kept calm through the whole thing, and that paid dividends at the end.”
READ MORE – Lando Norris leads McLaren 1-2 in British GP, Nico Hulkenberg takes maiden F1 podium
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