Lewis Hamilton has been “very inspiring” as Lando Norris has made his way in Formula 1 in recent years, the McLaren driver has said.
Norris says his relationship with his fellow Briton and seven-time world champion is “growing” and that “over the last couple of months we have been getting to know each other a bit more”.
“It’s a pretty cool thing,” said Norris, 23. “I have so much respect for him and what he’s been able to achieve in F1.
“He’s part of the reason I’m an F1 driver, so it’s weird thinking I’m now racing against him.”
Norris, who made his debut in 2019 and has established himself as a leading light of the new generation of drivers, said he has been trying to learn from 38-year-old Hamilton.
“I am not always the guy who asks a lot of questions to these kind of people to get to know what they’re like and what they think,” Norris added.
“I do it in a more subtle way and just try to understand how they think and their thought processes and kind of understand what makes them special.
“I’m not always the most proactive in going forward and picking people’s brains, which is maybe a better way of doing it, but it’s just not who I am.
“I’m just happy to spend time with people who are at the top of whatever sport they are in, people I have a huge amount of respect for.”
‘Kind of cool’ for Norris to ‘relive’ F1 inspiration
Norris battled with Hamilton on track at the Austrian Grand Prix on Sunday, eventually moving clear on his way to a fourth-place finish with help from a five-second penalty for the Mercedes driver for exceeding track limits.
And he believes he has “good potential” to finish as the leading British driver at his home race at Silverstone this weekend, where McLaren will be running a one-off livery.
The colour scheme harks back to Hamilton’s era at McLaren, when the cars ran in silver, by carrying chrome-coloured paintwork on the rear part of the car.
The livery is also a nod to a sponsor of the team, a well-known internet browser.
Norris, who said he was inspired by Hamilton and Fernando Alonso battling when they were McLaren team-mates in 2007, said the silver colour scheme had “always been my favourite livery – it’s just for one race but it’s kind of cool to relive what got me into F1”.
Norris has ‘good potential’ to be ‘top Brit’
On his chances of beating Hamilton and his Mercedes team-mate George Russell this weekend, Norris said the upgraded aerodynamics introduced successfully by McLaren in Austria gave him hope for the British Grand Prix.
He will have further new parts for this weekend’s race, while team-mate Oscar Piastri will have the car in the specification Norris ran in Austria.
“We definitely had the upper hand this weekend,” Norris said. “Every other weekend they’ve been ahead, so I don’t want to say all of a sudden we’re ahead of Mercedes.
“Austria has always been our best race of the season, but we did take a step forward. Silverstone is full of high-speed corners which are a bit of a strength of ours, but maybe not straight line braking, which is another.
“I would say [we have] good potential to compete against them again and for me to be top Brit. That would be a pretty cool thing to do at Silverstone.”
Norris acknowledged that racing at home brought with it “a little more pressure” but insisted: “I wouldn’t say it affects me.
“There’s a bit of pressure that you want to make sure you perform for everyone because it’s your home race and it’s one you feel you should do well at. You just get that sensation of ‘I want to do a good job for them’. It’s by the far the most fun and exciting weekend of the season.”
Norris on prospect of protest repeat
Norris and Piastri said they hoped the race would not be disrupted again by Just Stop Oil protestors.
The campaign group invaded the track on the first lap of last year’s race, but the impact of their protest was reduced because an accident at the first corner caused the race to be immediately stopped.
“It’s a stupid thing to do to put your life in danger with cars driving around,” said Norris. “It’s a very selfish thing to do at the same time because of the consequences it has on the person driving a car if something happened.
“At the same time, it’s not my area of expertise, but everyone has the right to do such a thing. I guess there are good ways of doing it and worse ways.
“I saw Lewis saying he supports protest and people standing up for what they think is right, as long as it’s done in the right way. That’s the most important thing.
“I don’t want to think about it as a concern. I feel Silverstone will do the best job they can to stop these kinds of things. I hope people are smart enough to not do it again.
“There are plenty of other, much safer ways to get just as much attention. I support it as long as they do it in the right way.”