Written by Ilona Datchary, Edited by Hugh W
Not many Formula 1 drivers manage to start at 19 years old. However, there is one who has managed to get in and has had a quite impressive career in racing for being so young. That is no other than the young British driver, Lando Norris. From go-karting at the age of seven to now competing for the top three in F1, and still being aged 23, he still has a lot more to come.
Karting years - 2006 - 2014
At age 7, Lando Norris started go-karting at no other than the Clay Pigeon Kart Track where Jenson Button had also started. Norris had karted alongside his brother who was ten at the time, the father, Adam Norris, was very encouraging to ensure the success of his son in this very difficult and challenging industry.
In 2012, when Norris was aged 13 he became the Formula Kart Stars Champion and got second in the MSA Super One British Championship. In 2013, Lando Norris won the WSK Euro Series and became the youngest driver to win the World Karting Championship which Hamilton previously held.

Single Seaters - 2015- 2018
Norris’s first official single-seat racing was in 2015 at the age of 15 when he got third at the Ginetta World Championship. Then at the ripe age of 16 years old Norris ended up signing with Carlin Motorsports and competed in the British Formula 4 series.
During that season, Lando Norris had eight wins and 14 podiums, and with that, he ended up winning the championship. During that same year Norris managed to win three other championships, the Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0, the Formula Renault 2.0 NEC, and finally the Toyota Racing Series in New Zealand. During the same year, Norris competed in three different F4 Championships, unfortunately, he did not manage to be in the top three for any.
Eventually, in 2017 Lando Norris drove in the FIA F3 European Championship for Carlin and got first place with nine wins and eight pole positions. During the same season, Norris was fortunate enough to be part of the McLaren Honda Formula 1 team as the Test and Simulator Driver.
Then in 2018 he continued on in F2 with the same team and ended up finishing second. Right after, his current opponent in F1, Russell, and right behind him, Albon. Alongside this, Lando Norris signed as a junior driver for McLaren and was their test and reserve driver.

Formula 1 career - 2019 - Current
Finally, at the age of 19 Lando Norris officially became part of the driver lineup of McLaren, alongside Carlos Sainz who had been driving since 2015. In his first season, Norris managed in 11 Grands Prix to get points with a total of 49 points, and his highest position ended up being 6th place twice, in the Bahrain GP and the Austrian GP.
In 2020, his second season in F1, Lando Norris got his first podium which was during the Australian GP, and where he got third place with the addition of fastest lap. That had made him the third youngest F1 driver to get on the podium. At the end of the season, Norris got ninth with 97 points.
During his third season, 2021, Sainz had left the team and the new driver lineup had been him as well as Daniel Ricciardo. In the Russian Grand Prix, Norris had taken his first pole position and towards the end of the race was first. However, there was a downpour of rain and instead of changing his tires, Norris had decided to continue with his tires.
Conditions were too difficult to stay on track and he had finally decided to pit which had become too late and in the end, got the fastest lap but unfortunately ended up seventh. The drivers' championship ended with Norris being sixth and getting 160 points, much better compared to his previous seasons.
In the 2022 season, Norris won third in the Emilia Romagna GP unfortunately that was the highest position he had gotten throughout the whole year. For the 2022 driver standings, he had gotten seventh with 122 points. It had not been a very exciting year for Norris.

2023, being his fifth season, has been much better. At the beginning of the season, it had been a minor setback for him and the team. However, in their 10th Grand Prix located at Silverstone, Norris came 3rd with then came 2nd again in the next Grand Prix.
After a few Grands Prix, Norris again got onto the podium twice with P2 at both the Singapore and Japanese Grand Prix, as well as a 3rd Place at the Qatar GP. In the most recent Grand Prix in Austin, as it was Norris’s 100th race in F1, he had originally gotten P3, but due to Hamilton's disqualification, Norris was promoted to P2.
A special comeback drive at Mexico fetched him fifth at the flag, while another clinical showing around Interlagos fetched Norris another second place, making it a brace of second places over the weekend, and the Briton surging to fifth in the drivers standings.
With Lando Norris only being 23, he still has a lot of potential in Formula 1. And with the improvement of McLaren each year who knows how far Norris can go in this industry?
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