The 2020 edition of F1 Beyond The Grid podcast went live earlier in the week as McLaren’s Lando Norris spoke about his career, early days, friends/rivals, Helmut Marko and more.
The first episode of the F1 Beyond The Grid podcast of the 2020 season has Tom Clarkson talk to Norris at length about various things and here’s the summary of it:
- The podcast starts with both bantering about the diet and eating habits of Norris, as well as his physical condition heading into 2020 F1 season.
- Norris mentioned that the faster cars in F1 2020 has put more of a strain on the drivers than 2019’s cars did.
- Moving on, the McLaren racer talked about the pressure he faces this season, which is less than it was last year.
- Norris then explained how he is learning how to make his car as fast as possible, with set-up, etc.
- The two joked that the British youngster is now more demanding than in last year, partially due to his extra experience and then discussed his set-up tendencies.
- Further, Norris said that he is more technically inclined than his lighthearted persona lets on. An example he used was cleaning the house.
- They conversed about Norris’ sleep habits, and the young driver admitted to not sleeping enough, often due to gaming. After that, they moved on to his style, and his secret clothing design hobby.
- Norris then explained what his education and childhood was like, with karting taking so much time, and the chaos of being on the road.
- Post this, he discussed how his love of motorsports began with MotoGP and why his passion changed from bikes to cars. He said that the reason for this was a crash on his bike, in conjunction with an experience at a car race.
- The duo continued, going back and forth about his brother’s racing, which started at the same time as Lando’s. He admitted that his brother was quicker at first, and that he and his sibling looked up to George Russell, a competitor of theirs.
- The Brit then explained why his brother gave up on karting. Here, he said that his kinfolk preferred the more laid-back approach that karting had
- Again, Norris touched upon his relationship with Russell, Alexander Albon, Max Verstappen, Carlos Sainz and others, with an emphasis on his McLaren F1 teammate. He also gave his two cents on Sainz’s change in character, which he credits with being out of the Red Bull driver program – a competitive one.
- Continuing with the Red Bull theme, the 20-year-old told of his first time meeting Dr. Marko, which was an awkward encounter.
- Back on the topic of his relationship with his Spanish teammate Sainz, Norris discussed how he sees their future together as teammates.
- Switching gears to Esports, he compared himself to his teammate Verstappen (on the gaming racing front).
- The McLaren F1 driver then switched topics again, this time to his relationship with Lewis Hamilton.
- The podcast wrapped up with a more in-depth dialogue about Norris’ personality when compared to the one we see on social media, Youtube, and the internet, as well as McLaren’s chances for F1 2020.
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The story was edited by Darshan Chokhani