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46:07
Car
McLaren MCL40
This is the extremely fast, high-tech race car that Lando Norris drives in the 2026 Formula 1 world championship.
Car
Plymouth P15
The Plymouth P15 is a vintage American car built in the late 1940s right after World War II. It was designed as an affordable, reliable family vehicle with a classic rounded body style. It is now considered a vintage collector's car.
Person
Andrea Stella
The boss of the McLaren Formula 1 team who is highly respected for his calm leadership style and smart engineering background.
Concept
team orders
When a racing team tells its drivers to stop racing each other and let one teammate pass the other to help the team overall.
Person
Oscar Piastri
Lando Norris's teammate at McLaren, a very fast and talented young driver from Australia.
Place
Nürburgring Nordschleife
A famous, very long, and dangerous race track in Germany that professional drivers and car companies use to test how fast a car can go.
Car
McLaren 750S
An incredibly fast, lightweight British supercar designed to go from 0 to 60 mph in under 2.8 seconds.
Car
McLaren 720S
The McLaren 720S is a British two-seat supercar designed to go extremely fast on both public roads and race tracks. It features doors that open upwards and a highly aerodynamic body shape. It is built by McLaren, a company famous for building Formula 1 racing cars.
Term
slicks
Racing tires that are completely smooth with no grooves, designed to grip dry tracks as tightly as possible.
Concept
Triple Crown of Motorsport
A special unofficial title given to a race car driver who wins the three biggest races in the world: the Monaco Grand Prix, the Indianapolis 500, and the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
Car
Chevrolet Corvette
A famous American sports car that is known for having a loud, powerful engine and a sleek design.
Term
banking
The tilt or angle of a race track's corners, which helps cars go around turns much faster without sliding off.
Car
Cadillac Lyric
The Cadillac Lyriq is a luxury SUV that runs entirely on battery power instead of gasoline. It features a modern design with high-tech screens inside and does not produce any engine noise. The 'V' version is a special high-performance model built to accelerate extremely quickly.
Car
Cadillac Escalade
The Cadillac Escalade is a very large, expensive luxury SUV made by General Motors. The 'V' version is a special high-performance model equipped with an incredibly powerful gas engine that makes a loud, sporty sound. It is designed for people who want maximum space, luxury, and speed.
Car
Cadillac Optiq
The Cadillac Optiq is a smaller, electric SUV designed for luxury and daily driving. It runs completely on electricity and is smaller than Cadillac's other electric SUVs, making it easier to park and drive in cities. The 'V' version is tuned to be more sporty and fun to drive.
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But it pairs with a couple of years ago. I think if I won that race, McLaren wouldn't
have achieved what they have over the last few years, which probably means we wouldn't
have won the drivers championship last year. Do you see yourself as a one-team driver?
There's only one place I'd ever be interested in, but that's very, very in the distant future.
For now, I'm heavily committed to McLaren being the only team I'll ever want to be with.
Welcome everybody to this week's F1 Beyond the Grid. I am delighted to say that we have
the reigning world champion with us, Landon Ois. How are you?
Thank you very much. Say that again.
Does it ever get old?
It'll never get old. No, it's just called every time someone says it. Always makes
it well, probably will forever. But I got to make the most of it. It doesn't last forever.
Some people have got high hopes for later this year, Landon. Before we get on to that, we
thought you'd might want to see a new friend.
Who's is this one?
Why are you saying?
Because it's not my one.
Well, so how does it work? You were given the trophy at the FIA prize giving at the end
of last year.
Do you get to keep that one?
I think so.
And where is it? Where do you keep it?
Above my Miami one. So I have Miami. I got the box that the Miami one came in.
So first race win and then first championship.
First race win and then championship now.
What, on the mantelpiece, by the beds?
It's kind of like when I open up my door, it's a little hallway.
First thing you see.
It kind of opens up. So it's a living room. So I have like a little desk within the box
and the trophy on. And it's like a window behind it.
So as I open up the door, it's there because you're shining light and then like the outline
of a trophy. So it's pretty cool.
It's really cool.
It's really cool.
I'm happy with it.
You are the 11th British world champion, the 35th in the history of Formula One.
When you look at all the names on the trophy next to you, I mean, who are you most proud
to be alongside? Who are your heroes?
Well, I think the easy ones to say is Lewis.
I started watching Lewis and Fernando at the time.
I mean, I watched both of them in McLaren 2007.
So the first race I can remember watching was 2007.
Then if it was Indianapolis or Silverstone, maybe.
I remember watching them and I remember seeing Lewis on the podium.
So like for me, that was one of my earliest memories of F1 was seeing Lewis on the top
step.
That's why Barcelona was cool because it was like, I think it was the first time I got
to share a podium with Lewis when he was on the top step again.
And that kind of just gave me a little like, little throwback feeling to that.
Like me as a kid going like, oh, I think this is seeing Lewis on the top step.
So that was just pretty cool for me to kind of share that moment.
But Lewis is probably the main one and Fernando because there's the two guys at McLaren at
the time and I've loved McLaren ever since.
But you have some that I'm good friends with, you know, and like Jackie Stewart and Seb.
Seb's on there a good amount, you know, so a few drivers that are nice to speak to now
and get along with very well.
Mika.
You do a lot with Mika in that role.
We do a good amount.
I mean, he's still part of the McLaren family.
So that's something that's very, very special for all of us.
He comes to a lot of the races.
So I think he's just a fun guy to be around.
So it's always nice when he's there to join us.
But how many of the guys you've just mentioned have a wax work in Madame Tussauds?
Not many.
I know the answer by the way.
And Senna.
And Senna as well.
But you didn't mention him.
Yeah, I mean Senna is Senna.
You don't need no explanation for Senna.
I need it for Lewis to be honest.
It's just cool for me because I feel like most people know what Madame Tussauds is.
So it's just, I just think it's something very cool, as simple as that.
It's something very cool.
You don't ever get put in Madame Tussauds unless, you know, you've achieved something
pretty special.
And that's what this trophy was, you know.
What do you make of your doppelganger?
Is it good?
I find it freaky because, you know, the only time you ever see yourself really is in a mirror.
You only ever see yourself in 2D.
You never see yourself in 3D.
So I feel like it's weird to see yourself in depth.
Because otherwise you're always just looking at a flat image of yourself.
So I find it odd because I'm like, is that what I look like?
Is it accurate? Really accurate?
Right down to the sort of dimples.
I think you have to tell me better than I say myself.
Okay, well then you have to go to Madame Tussauds.
It is, like when you're up close and I kind of like the eyes and I see the picture of like my eyes to the eyes that were kind of used and the colours and it's pretty accurate.
And the moment of me I think was, I think it was Miami, my first win.
I think it was like the celebration of Miami.
Do you get to choose the pose because it's that sort of clenched fist?
Yeah, which I think was Miami was me on the podium.
So that was like a cool moment at that time because it was made, I was thinking of Silverstone last year, but this was made way, started making this way before Silverstone.
Interesting, so they started making it before the championship.
Yeah, almost over a year ago. Yeah, well easily over a year ago.
What's the process? So they don't just do it from photographs.
Do you have to go in and have a fitting?
Yeah, yeah, I have to go and stand on like a boarding and you know, they have to get like all the skin tone colour matched up.
I think I was like just off a holiday so I was pretty tanned before this.
Obviously depending you have to get your haircut ready for an event like this.
Weirdly, the haircut is quite similar to what you've got now given that they started doing it.
Yeah, it's a little bit fresher.
So it was shorter sides, it was kind of ish towards when I was kind of going mullet-y.
But you can still kind of decide this and choose kind of what you wanted.
But yeah, I just found it weird but just amusing at the same time to kind of see me.
Which is cool, so I'm very happy that people can go see it.
Do you not get used to that now?
I mean, kind of serious question.
You're the recognition you get now, particularly with the championship.
I mean, Madame Tussaud is a reflection of that, but are you still not used to the global recognition?
I think you kind of naturally, you naturally subconsciously get used to it.
But I don't know, I feel like you see it always more from an outside perspective.
You see the size, the sensation of someone that you look at.
So I feel like you see that when you look at other athletes and sports stars and footballers and things.
You see the worldwide fame of someone from the outside perspective.
So it's hard to kind of see what it's like for you or whoever seeing me in that perspective.
Otherwise, because I very much just live my life and I like to just be with my friends and what do I see?
I see that I get, you know, notice more when I'm in public and I have more fans, more supporters.
Occasionally there's more stuff online and your personal life's invaded a little bit more.
So, you know, I see that.
You see kind of the bigger, broader picture of all of it put together.
So I don't know, I feel like I go along living my life and with that then comes more and more.
And I think you probably see it more than I do in some ways.
So I get used to it and you get used to it.
But it's still like, I still find it odd because I feel like I'm still me.
I just want to come and drive the race car and then go home.
And that's all I've ever wanted to do.
But I'm still, you know, the fact I still see like I've the land I stand in Silverstone,
you have that many people that are there to kind of cheer for me and support me.
The amount of messages I get from people, all these different little things that are like, damn, why do these people do this for me?
You know, it's like, that's the odd feeling more than just knowing your favour, whatever it is.
It's like, why are there so many people that are there to cheer for me?
And that's the coolest part of it.
It's the Lando stand back at Silverstone this weekend.
Lando stand.
Is it bigger?
Bigger.
Yes, it's pretty huge.
Silverstone has done an amazing job.
I still have to thank them for kind of allowing us to do it.
Where is it on the track?
So it's still in Stowe.
It's just huge.
The grandstand has gone like further up, further round, especially the whole of Stowe and now more.
And I went to see it like a month ago, a month and a half ago.
So they've done like the British flag on it, my logo on the seats.
So even when no one's in it, it still looks pretty cool.
And I think the bannering and everything's just gone up now.
So it's pretty...
Will you pay a visit?
Yeah, of course.
Of course.
Of course.
I think I'll go before the weekend to kind of just go in and see it before, as everything's set up, before people are there.
And then, of course, I think on Sunday during drivers parade, I'll hopefully stop off there.
So, of course, I have to go pay a visit.
They're my team.
They're my fans.
So I'll go see them and we have cool things set up.
I want them to have a good time.
I want them to have a better time than any other grandstand.
So with some music and we partner with my partners to try and bring people the best weekend possible.
It's clear you're still buzzing about sort of everything associated with success.
Of course, because it's not normal.
It's not a normal thing.
And I guess, yeah, I guess my life is not normal, but I still feel inside very normal.
And I don't want to kind of...
There are certain things in life that people are like, oh, you're going to do more of this and be seen here and go into...
Like, I'm not fussed by that.
You know, I really just want to enjoy my life.
I'm not bothered by trying to necessarily hope that people remember me forever and go down in history and be remembered for like...
You're going down in history.
Yeah, exactly.
It's an amazing thing that I get to see, but it's not like that's not why I started to drive Informal One or wanted to be Informal One.
It's not like, ah, because I want people to remember me forever.
I just want to win.
And I want to win for me and my team and my people and my friends and my family and my fans and give to them.
That's all I want to do.
And if the bonus is that people might remember you and talk about you one day and I think those are beautiful things.
But, you know, I think you still have to be a little bit selfish in life because I still do it for myself, but also the people that are around me and my family.
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You'll be standing by the end of the fight.
After 24 rounds, it's Lando Norris who takes his first world championship.
It's the promised land for Lando.
Oh my God. You made a good dream come true. Thanks so much.
I love you guys. Thanks for everything you deserve it.
I love you, Mum. I love you Dad. Thanks for everything.
Oh no, cry.
When you've strived for something for so long in your case winning the world championship, what is it like to actually achieve it?
Um, there definitely was a moment of like, what do I do now?
Like I certainly had that thought of what does it mean now?
It's weird like trying to fight for that thing your whole life.
And I mean, since I was 567 years old to 26, 20 years trying to achieve one thing really, which was that.
And then it's done. And the thing is, it's always so distant, you know, like you've never done it till you've done it.
But it always feels so far away and you kind of, it's hard to at any time believe that it's going to happen, at least in my mind, until it happens.
So it is quite a moment of like, it's just a build up of kind of never really expecting it and realizing it until that very moment, you know, across the line.
And you experience it for yourself, which is very different to seeing people on TV, you know, every time I've seen Louis, I saw Louis won a championship or Max or Seb, you know, it's a very different perspective of it, the emotion and feelings and being surrounded by all those people.
Did you even for a moment think of doing a Rosberg and saying, I've done this and now I know.
No, I said, I think I said it in some interviews a long time ago with George and stuff, but no, no, like, I love what I do. I want to achieve more than one.
I feel like I can achieve more than one. So no, no, I also because I've achieved it at a much younger time in my life than what Nico did.
I don't know what age Nico was when he achieved his championship, but I think by that time he had kids and a wife and I certainly don't have the minutes.
So yeah, maybe by that time when I do or in a few years when I do, then my opinion will change or what I want to do.
How has it changed your appetite for racing and for success?
I mean, very few people set out to climb Mount Everest twice, right? They just do it once.
Yeah, I think is, I mean, you know, I'm pretty crazy things to do, but I feel like there's a lot more risk in doing something like that.
But the thing is the hunger is still there. I think there are some things that in life that once you get that feeling of doing it once, you're like, you want more of it and success is certainly an addictive.
It's a drug and you certainly get that from winning trophies and celebrating with the team and all of these incredible things.
But certainly none of it is gone. Like I'm still at that point of I think goes forever.
Honestly, that's why you still see Fernando here and Luis here is because they know what it feels like.
They know what it does to you and what 40, 44, 41 years old still wanting to get that feeling again.
One guy, seven of them and he still wants more, you know, so that's that's what he can do to someone, the effect he can have on someone.
And can you relate to that now? Can you see yourself as a 41 year old still striving for that next one?
No.
That next hit?
No.
Really, no?
No. You never know. I don't know if Luis said he'll be here when I'm 41 and I don't know if Fernando said he'll be here when he's 44.
Well, Fernando left and then thought, actually, I want more of that. I'll go back.
Yeah, then maybe. I don't know. I don't know what to expect in 10 years. I very much live in the now of my life.
I also look forward to certain things in the future, but, you know, I want to retire and have kids.
I want to go play golf. I want to travel the world without a job.
You can still do all of those things.
Go have fun with my friends.
You can still do all of those things and be a Formula One driver.
Yeah, but, you know, but that's the thing, like, you know, a lot of drivers retire and then they're like, damn, I'm actually retired.
Some go, yeah, the best decision I made and happy I moved on. Some regret that they retired and like, damn, I miss it.
So my time will come when I need to make that decision and make it and then see what happens.
But that's a lot that's just too far away for now. So I'm not bothered by thinking of it.
For now, I want two of my names in a row and that's my goal for now.
Well, what chance of two names in a row? Talk us through the MCL 40 and...
I mean, it's been a sticky start.
Pretty good to say that, right? Yeah.
But yeah, I just I don't want to roll it out. I wouldn't want to be here if you ruled something out that quickly in life.
So all this talk of winning, right?
When you have the frustrations that there have been so far this year, you know, China and the retirements from Canada and stuff.
Is it harder to take?
I've spent I spent what six years trying to win a race. So it wasn't like I went from, you know, you have the two complete opposites.
You have a Lewis who was fighting for a car and in a car that could fight for World Championship straightaway, got used to winning.
And then for him, probably going to not winning was quite an extreme thing for me.
I was trying to win because we had such a terrible car for six years.
I'm more used to not winning because of these situations than I am to it.
So, you know, it was still like a new to me all of these situations.
And I've kind of feel like I've at the minute or a little bit more like we were just a few years ago.
But yeah, for now, I've definitely not got used to winning.
So I feel like you just reset. I've always been realistic.
So it's not like, you know, I've I'm realistic that I don't have a chance at the minute really to compete for for polls and wins.
If I do, then amazing, but it's not like my expectations of that for the time being.
How far off are you? Do you think?
This is so difficult to know.
I mean, you look at Barcelona, we're a little way away.
Honestly, the race in Barcelona was really competitive, though.
Yeah, it was better than I thought.
But honestly, I thought it was one of the best drives I've ever done in my life.
Champions try doesn't matter. Yeah, it doesn't matter.
No one needs to see it on the outside.
No one has to believe it.
But inside, you know, as a driver, when you feel like you've done a good job and there's no chance that we should be fighting that high up and fighting two Mercedes.
With the car that we have at the time for at the moment.
So generally, I thought it was one of the best drives I've done almost in my career, which is the change.
The only thing about Formula One is, you know, you don't always see the best drivers at the front.
You don't always have the guy who drove the best and did the best performance when a race.
Sometimes you can feel like you've done the best driver in your life when you finished P 10, P 15, P 20, even.
So, you know, that's the Formula One.
And that's, you know, you need to be lucky at times in your life to be with a correct team at the right time and all those things.
So I, but I'm confident. I believe in my team.
So I'm confident that it's on its way.
Lando, you said something a minute ago about the sort of the early cars weren't competitive.
And then I suppose 24 is when it first came alive for you, right?
You've done 158 races for the team and counting being here for seven and a half years now.
You know, you've done more for more races for this team than anyone else.
What kind of an influence do you think you've had here at McLaren, you know, on the resurgence when you joined in 19?
They weren't in a great place.
No, I like we fluctuated a lot in like 19, 20, 21, just very up and down.
In moments we thought, OK, this is it.
We're on the way and then kind of step back and never kind of got the momentum going.
I want to believe it.
I want to believe it. Like, obviously, I've never, I've honestly never been like an ego led guy.
So I'm never going to come into an interview and say, yeah, it was all me.
But I want to believe that I had a decent impact within the team, just in terms of spirit and motivation, enjoyment, fun.
You know, you're a professional team and you have to act professional to all these things.
But I think you certainly do need quite a few of these attributes within a team of 700, 800 people to get the most out of each other and get over bad weekends, years,
because you can easily fall into a trap of kind of like McLaren.
We're in at that point of no one wanted to take blame.
No one wanted to accept and take accountability.
No one thought they ever did something wrong.
And for me, I've always been very much the opposite of that.
Even if I have an amazing race and you go, wow, it's an incredible race.
There was plenty of times I've come in and go, no, that was shocking.
I did a terrible lap, could have been pole, didn't mess it up, whatever it was.
So for me, I was always very much the opposite of how McLaren was back then.
And I think that helped in some ways, you know, and it's always impossible to quantify these things.
But when you put a combination of, you know, me and Carlos back in those first few years and then me, Daniel, like certain bits always add up.
I think my involvement and my commitment to the team helps a lot.
But I also think for me, then I just put the biggest accountability down to Zach, first of all, and Andrea.
I honestly think Andrea is one of the most unbelievable people that I've ever met that can run a team,
get the maximum amount of a team, understand people, myself included, and know how to get the maximum amount of people.
I generally don't know of anyone better.
I've not met a lot of people in other teams because I've only ever been with McLaren, but I generally don't know of many people.
And I find it very difficult to believe that there's many people better than Andrea.
What is his greatest quality?
Just work ethic, understanding people.
I think you have to understand people, how they work, how they maximize and get everything from a performance side of things.
Just the environment and the mentality of the whole team and understanding all of these things, getting people to work together.
There's a lot that goes into making a good Formula One team, but, you know, there's not been many teams that have kind of gone from where we were a few years ago,
to last pretty much to beating Mercedes Ferrari Red Bull, who have dominated Formula One for years.
So we've clearly done a much better job than other people, and a lot of that I think is down to Andrea in understanding all of these things.
So I don't think you need to even realize that.
If you have a 10-minute conversation with Andrea and you sit down and speak to him, and for me, a lot of our conversations are not even racing related.
They're the complete opposite of that, but 10 minutes is enough to realize the kind of person he is.
Do you think you've taken a step forward as a driver since he became team principal?
100%. 100%. Easy answer.
In what ways? How has it helped you on track? Are you more consistent?
No, it's a lot easier than that.
Are you faster?
Yeah, I certainly think I'm faster. I think it's more me as a person in my perspectives, my values.
Is it almost a paternal role that he's playing?
I wouldn't say that. He's just a very, very good leader. I think he's a very good team leader.
And the speeches he gives, the amount that he cares of, I think he cares so much, which is on the most important values.
He has a lot of respect, and when you just mix all of these things together, you want to listen to everything he says
and understand everything he says, and I've just learned a lot from him.
I'm fascinated by leadership in Formula One, and what we're talking about now reminds me of something Mattia Bernotto said on this show just a few weeks back.
We were talking about Schumacher, and he said Michael was a brilliant racing driver, but he was an even better leader than he was driver.
I thought it was fascinating. He would literally say, right guys, we're going this way, and we would all follow him.
Do you see yourself as a driver in a leadership role like that?
It's stuff like certainly not a few years ago. There were certain things.
I feel like I played a good part in the team in terms of morale and enjoyment and seeing positives at times and taking accountability.
There are different versions, which in some ways you can maybe put under those words.
I'm not like a public speaker or anything, so I'm not going to stand in front of the whole team and give the most inspirational, motivational speech.
I think more in the way of personality and care, respect, love for the team, for the people that I work alongside.
Just genuine values, I think is where I feel like I played a good part.
I think saying team leader is a very powerful thing.
I don't know if I would say that about myself, but I definitely feel like I don't know how to say it.
I don't know what other word is not as powerful as leader, but within a similar regime as that.
But Landau, when you look at the world champions on the grid today, they all seem to have that role in the team.
I look from the outside in at you and your influence that you have on the people you work with.
I think it's absolutely the same with you, which is Max is very much the team leader, isn't he?
Rebble, Lewis appears to be taking on more of that role at Ferrari and Fernando, kind of every team he goes to.
So it's interesting, isn't it?
Do you see yourself as a one-team driver?
Like Jim Clark? Jim Clark only ever raced for Lotus in Formula One.
He won a couple of championships.
Do you see yourself and McLaren wedded like that?
Very, very potentially, because I don't know how long I'll be in Formula One.
My contract still goes for a good amount of years, so I know I'm not leaving anytime soon.
Could you ever see a day where the challenge to do it again somewhere else becomes just a personal challenge?
Or loyalty to McLaren is above everything?
If there's any place I want to go, there's only one place.
That's it.
Do you want me to... can I guess?
You can say whatever, team you want.
I don't care, but there's only one place I would ever be interested in.
But that's very, very in the distance future.
For now, I'm heavily committed to McLaren being the only team I ever want to be with.
And I feel like they're my family.
I want to do as much as I can with McLaren for as long as possible for five years, ten years.
And I'm very, very proud and happy that I can say that more than almost every many other driver is ever in Formula One.
So, yeah, for me, that's my goal, is to be with McLaren forever.
But I also love winning, so until that time comes, you never know.
But even if I'm not winning, I didn't win for six years.
I could have gone to different places and I didn't, because at the end of the day, I just want to enjoy.
Like, it goes all the way back to the very beginning, honestly.
You easily have that perception from people saying, you have to be cutthroat and do all these different things.
But I'll do my best with McLaren forever.
And even sometimes, if we're not winning, that doesn't mean I necessarily want to go to another team.
I just want to be with the people that I enjoy being with.
That's the only thing I really care about.
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Do you think you need to be cutthroat to win in Formula One?
I think there's moments that helps.
I don't think you have to be a cutthroat person.
There are moments when you need to maybe play a little bit more of that role and have that attribute when you might need it.
But I don't think all out you need to be cutthroat.
I don't believe that or overly aggressive or selfish or any of these things.
There are times when I wish I was maybe more in that direction and I could just fall upon that attribute more in my life and within racing.
But it's hard for me to do so.
So that's last year where I very much wanted just on my own values.
There was plenty more time is when I could have probably got off the brake and committed more and ended up maybe crashing just to prove my point of I'm not going to back out.
Was there a little bit of that in Singapore or not?
No. Maybe I'm a percent.
But you know what? I'm not just talking about how you drive on track.
I think one of the saddest stories of the modern era is Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosbould.
They were best mates in karting. They were in the same team.
And yet both of them were prepared to sacrifice their friendship to win the world title.
And they still don't really talk. I feel that's really sad.
Do you understand where they're coming from?
Would you sacrifice a friendship to win?
No, I get where they're coming from.
I don't know if I'm saying for them, I'm sure they didn't want their friendship to end or to kind of go the way that it did.
I certainly wouldn't want to.
But I very much understand how it's possible.
I'm lucky I've had a teammate that shares very similar values and therefore you don't go in that direction.
But it's so, so easy to end up in the way that they have done.
If the two teammates fighting for a world championship, it takes so little for you to go in that direction as teammates.
It's easy to do.
Give us an example. Holding back a bit of information in a debrief. Is that what we're talking about?
Or is it?
Yeah, I mean, it's going to be a collection of things.
It depends how strong you are as a teammate.
It can be hiding things, just lying. Lying, not being yet upholding to things you might have said before the races.
You can easily go back to Budapest a couple of years ago.
And Lando, there are five laps to go.
The way to win a championship is not by yourself. It's with the team.
You're going to need Oscar and you're going to need the team.
Lando Norris is backing off.
He was on the cusp of a second Grand Prix victory.
A swap of positions. Oscar Piatri goes back through into the lead of a Grand Prix.
The gap in the drivers' championship could have come down to 69 points, but instead the man from Melbourne leads.
Yeah, you don't need to say anything.
I led the race and there's so many people like, oh, I wouldn't have let them back pass and all those things, you know.
So easy for me to just keep pounding around and win the race.
Some people might have loved that, but I genuinely probably wouldn't have been able to live without for the rest of my life.
And do you think that would have really affected your relationship with Oscar if you had done that?
The team wouldn't be the same as they are now.
Probably wouldn't have won the constructors for the last two years, which probably means we wouldn't have won the drivers' championship.
I won a won a drivers' championship last year.
That's how easy it is for things to go wrong in Formula One.
So yeah, I think if I won that race, McLaren wouldn't have achieved what they have over the last few years.
Have you and Oscar sat down since Abu Dhabi and just had a really good chat?
I think we've had it.
The thing is, we have team chats all the time.
Like it never just me and him, but we have team chats every single weekend, multiple times.
That include him, I and Dreya.
We both have our own chats with Andreya and then things are shared between us.
So no, we've not had like a man to man just chat.
I don't think any of us, we wouldn't want that because we just not, we just both find it awkward and probably laugh.
The relationship looks good.
I saw a really fun thing on the McLaren social channels about you two scrapbooking, right?
I mean, McLaren make us do a lot of stuff.
The reason I'm raising it is that you two seem to rub along pretty well.
Given everything that's happened.
100%.
I don't know, it's always just trickier to talk about these kind of different moments
and having one person win over another.
Like it's, yeah, if I could just have the same, have it happen, but never things kind of be awful
or kind of hurt someone more than the other.
I think that's how I would have it.
But this is a sport, you know, is where we both care a lot about wanting to be better than one another
and be to prove you're the best in the world and people are always going to be hurt.
Like I'm going to get hurt at some point in my career because I lose out to him or another driver and the other way around.
So that's just sport.
Like you always have a winner and then you always have losers.
I've been a loser for many times in my life and for the first time I was a winner.
So are you a better racing driver now that you've got the championship in the bag?
Are you driving with more confidence?
Are you more relaxed?
Yeah, both of those really.
Like when people say what's changed since you've won a championship, simply it's just those two things.
I feel more relaxed because I spent 20 years to achieve one thing and I've achieved it.
So I can die happy now.
You know, like this is my life led to that one moment and I'm just very, very happy that I managed to do it.
I'm proud of myself that I managed to achieve it with all those people around me.
And when I'm relaxed, I generally can feel more confident.
Winning the championship last year gave him, has just allowed me to have more confidence in an underlying way
because I feel like I can just lean on that.
Like I just have something to go, nah, you came from a lot worse last year
or you went through a lot worse last year at times and came out of it in the best way possible.
So I kind of, I've given myself a blog to lean on and that's exactly what I need at times.
So whereas last year I kind of never had that and I had to work with specialists and people to kind of give me a support
from people around me and try and just give myself my own support at times
because at the beginning of the year I certainly didn't have any of that
and I kind of never had much of that as a driver.
But now I just have my own blog built by this.
I've got my own trophy to lean on and that's a very good thing to have from a confidence point of view.
And if you're in a similar situation again, fighting for the championship,
will you fight in a slightly different way now that after everything you learned in 25?
In general, no. There'll be maybe moments where I make some different decisions here or there in a race,
on an overtake or a defence or could you have defended that one place better in this race back there?
Yes, could you have maybe committed a bit more on a braking and got this position here?
Yes, could you have done that one qualifying lap here or there where you could have improved 200,
just got one more position, maybe won a race or finished higher up.
Yes, so there are little things along the way that subconsciously and naturally you kind of make better
or decide better at the time.
But also just where to put your energy, right?
I mean, certainly that just comes, I think, with experience.
Not winning a title, that's just years of doing that.
Not just winning, I think every year you learn what you kind of need to care about more.
What you need to spend your energy on and what you don't need to spend energy on.
Have you had a glimpse now? Do you look back last year and think,
oh, Max had had four titles? Yeah, he did have an advantage in those final moments.
Think of the disqualification in Fagan.
I'm unsure.
I'm unsure. Obviously the disqualification is the thing that gave them hope, really.
I thought you were remarkably relaxed turning up in Qatar.
I was going to say, it certainly didn't make me more nervous.
I was surprised myself how not nervous I was.
I don't know, the other way, confident I was.
I was never that confident, but I just wasn't nervous going into Sunday of Abu Dhabi
or just going into the weekend of Abu Dhabi or Qatar.
Yeah, it wasn't like I was like, oh, shit, they're holding our heels, whatever it is.
I was surprised at how relaxed I was on Sunday of Abu Dhabi
when two points was all it was in the end of the day.
I've always wanted to ask you this, or since Abu Dhabi,
were you surprised with the race that Max drove in Abu Dhabi?
Did you expect him to back you up into Charle-O-Claire
to just try and cause a bit of jeopardy?
Were you expecting that?
Because actually he just took off.
He needed to win the race over Oscar.
That's why Oscar came past at the beginning.
I didn't need to fight Oscar.
Actually having Oscar second place was a better thing for me.
So I think if I was second, he would have done it.
So you let Oscar through on the opening lap, right?
I just didn't fight. need to fight it.
On the topic of Max, can I just ask you about the Nurburgring Nordschleife?
I know you did some laps in it in a 720S.
Yeah, 750.
750 was it? Okay. How'd you find it?
Pretty scary, but pretty awesome.
I've done loads of laps on the simulator,
so I knew the whole track off by heart and pretty damn accurate.
Were you pushing?
Yeah, I'm not going to go out on a race track and not push.
I know, but the Nordschleife is kind of like something.
Yeah, it's daunting at times because you have to just learn entry speeds.
I've done it on an I-Racing in a simulator in a race car,
not in just a road car, but the 750 has got good grip
and you can push on it quite a lot.
But it's just learning what tarmacs are.
Because on the simulator, all tarmacs are pretty universal.
Whereas when you get there, you kind of learn about the off-cambus,
the cambus, what tarmacs are slippery, what are very grippy,
and that can affect things a lot.
I also, you're on track with people in a Volvo estate.
Oh, it was an open test day.
Yeah, it was just an open, yeah.
And bike is coming through and stuff like that.
Yeah, like no one came through past me.
But yeah, so you're having to be a little bit more aware of some people around you.
Would you ever do the 24 hours?
I would love to.
I mean, I would always pick a 24-hour race over Indy.
I certainly, I did day 24 hours with Fernando and Phil Hansen.
Very quick in the night.
Now a Le Mans winner.
Also, you were very quick in the night, I was told.
Is that right?
Yeah, I think it was my first in that I did.
I mean, it was raining on slicks.
I think I entered the car 12th and I came out,
not knowing where I was because it was like,
I think I did a triple stint or something, but came out and we're all eating.
And I was like, oh, I probably risked way too much at that time.
But the bravado was a new start to the whole thing.
But of the 24, so you tick that box, Daytona, what will come next?
Le Mans or Nurburgring next?
No, Le Mans would be the, well, I don't know.
I think the Nurburgring is a good setup for Le Mans,
but maybe Le Mans, I think it's better that way around,
a Nurburgring setting up for Le Mans.
Have you had the chat with Zach about driving the hypercar there?
Yes, I have, of course.
I want to drive all of the cars, so would you be interested?
I mean, I would love to do Le Mans.
I mean, McLaren are entering it, of course, I would love to enter it with McLaren.
That would certainly be the case.
But no, I saw my focus will still be on Formula One for a long time.
So I don't know if it'll be the next three years, five years, I don't know more.
But it'll be a pretty cool story, you know, for my love for McLaren
and maybe staying here forever, then to do Le Mans with McLaren as well
would be beautiful.
And I know you said you don't want to do Indy,
but if you won Le Mans for McLaren, you would have obviously won Monaco or Indy,
you're going to have to do Indy to go for the Triple Crown, right?
Do I?
I don't, I don't have to do anything.
I don't have to go and drive anything.
You went to Indy, actually, after Montreal, didn't you?
What did you do?
I went round with, I don't know, I was a Corvette or something.
Was it with Pato?
No, it was with Tony Canaan, the great Tony TK, not around TK.
You driving or him driving?
I trust a lot more than any of the three drivers.
What surprised you about Indy?
Actually, how flat it was, you know, there's banking, but it's, you know, I don't know, Daytona.
Daytona is like, I don't know, what is 30 something degrees more?
40, I don't know what it is.
40 something probably.
So like that's a banking, Zanvo, it's a banking.
Here is, and that's not a surprise how just flat it was.
And you're entering turn one and turn three at what?
Like 240 and you're staying flat.
Like that's pretty, that's pretty scary.
That's pretty full on, isn't it?
Yeah, it depends.
It depends when you have kids.
That's probably the big deciding on all of it.
If I have kids by then, then no chance I'm doing it.
Lando, it's been so great to catch up with you again.
It seems like you're really in a purple patch at the minute.
You know, okay, that was a good thing.
That's a great thing.
That's a great thing.
You've got the Gulf at Wentworth coming up as well.
Yeah, Subtesi time.
No, that's a little time away.
What's more nerve-wracking being on the grid at Silverstone or first tee at Wentworth?
First tee or Wentworth?
Yeah.
Sorry for the video.
Do you feel really self-conscious?
So close.
When people let me tee off.
That's a lot more crazy than being on the grid in Silverstone.
But now, you know, I've done them whole life.
If you put someone who's not driven a car that much, like I've not played golf that much,
you put them on the grid at Silverstone and they say, go for it.
You're going to be pretty nervous.
Yeah, you're always confident in what you're good at.
No, there's many things in my life.
Obviously, golf is one of them.
But yeah, cool projects coming up and plenty of things that I'm looking forward to doing.
Brilliant.
Thanks for your time.
Good luck with it very much.
Thank you.
Appreciate it.
Cheers, mate.
That was a truly enjoyable chat.
Lando was relaxed and he gave us a few really interesting insights.
What he said about Hungary 2024 and the ramifications if he'd kept that win.
Wow.
And I wonder where he was referring to when he said there's another team on the grid that he'd want to race for.
The red one?
Lando, thanks for your time and enjoy the British Grand Prix as the reigning world champion.
See you soon.
Don't forget to check out F1's other official podcasts, F1 Nation's review of the Austrian Grand Prix is out now.
I'm joined by F1 TV experts James Hinchcliffe and Alex Brundle to react to a much needed win for George Russell.
And the latest episode of F1 Explains is all about the role of driver managers with Carlos Sainz's manager Carlos Honoru.
That's on the F1 Nation feed now.
Thank you very much for listening.
I will of course be back next week with another great guest from the world of Formula One.
So I'll speak to you then.
F1 Beyond the Grid is produced by Formula One and AudioBoom Studio.
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About this episode
Lando Norris joins the show to reflect on his journey to becoming an F1 World Champion with McLaren. He shares personal stories about where he keeps his championship trophy, his childhood heroes like Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso, and the surreal experience of seeing his own wax figure at Madame Tussauds. Norris also opens up about managing global fame, staying grounded, and his deep connection with his fans at Silverstone's massive "Lando Stand." It is an intimate look at the mindset of a champion who remains fiercely committed to his team.
Original notes
Lando Norris achieved his lifelong dream in 2025, becoming Formula 1 World Champion for the first time after a rollercoaster title battle that went all the way down to the wire in Abu Dhabi.
Speaking to Tom Clarkson, Lando talks about not being nervous before that season-finale, what it really means to achieve the goal he’s been chasing for so long, how becoming champion has changed him and whether he ever considered ‘doing a Nico Rosberg’ and retiring after winning his first title.
Lando also tells Tom why he doesn’t think he’d be World Champion now had he ignored team orders at Budapest in 2024 and whether he sees himself as a one-team driver with McLaren for the rest of his career. The answer is revealing.
Speaking to Tom Clarkson, Lando talks about not being nervous before that season-finale, what it really means to achieve the goal he’s been chasing for so long, how becoming champion has changed him and whether he ever considered ‘doing a Nico Rosberg’ and retiring after winning his first title.
Lando also tells Tom why he doesn’t think he’d be World Champion now had he ignored team orders at Budapest in 2024 and whether he sees himself as a one-team driver with McLaren for the rest of his career. The answer is revealing.
Plus, you’ll hear where Lando keeps his Drivers’ Championship trophy and what he makes of his recently unveiled waxwork at Madame Tussauds.
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