A Week Before McLaren Announced Daniel Ricciardo in 2020, Lando Norris Was Already Practicing His Aussie Accent

Daniel Ricciardo joined Lando Norris at McLaren at the beginning of the 2021 season by replacing the outgoing Carlos Sainz. They took some time to get used to each other and their friendship went off to a slow start. However, in the months to follow, they would end up developing an incredibly good relationship. Interestingly, a week before this move was announced in 2020, Norris was already polishing his Australian accent. However, it was not because of his Aussie F1 teammate Ricciardo, but because of his e-sports teammate, Cam.

Norris competed in a Supercars event and partnered with Australia’s Cam. Following his race, the 23-year-old Briton explained in an interview with Supercars’ Facebook page how he was picking up his Australian accent.

Lando Norris explains how he learned his Aussie accent

In an interview with Supercars’ Facebook page in 2020, Lando Norris revealed that he had an Australian teammate called Cam and had to communicate with him while racing as teammates during an e-sports event. As seen in the video below, while Norris was giving his responses, the interviewer noted that the 23-year-old was consciously repeating, “Yeah Nah“.

On hearing the same, the interviewer told Norris that this phrase makes the Briton a “bona fide Aussie“. Norris then explained how he ended up learning this accent.

“I am with an Australian teammate. I have spotted it in everyone. So, I am learning some things. And that is the most valuable thing I have learned out of all of this is ‘Yeah, nah’. So, yeah it has become a habit“, explained the 23-year-old.

While it has been three years since Norris gave this interview, it seems he has built a unique connection with the Aussies, as another driver from down under partners with him this season in the form of Oscar Piastri. The 22-year-old, hailing from Melbourne, replaced Daniel Ricciardo at the start of the 2023 season.

Norris along with Piastri will hope to help McLaren return to the front

McLaren seemed to have had a resurgence in form recently with Lando Norris picking up two podium finishes in the last three races leading up to the summer break. Moreover, Oscar Piastri also clinched a second-place finish at the Belgian Grand Prix sprint.

Such results only seem to suggest that the Woking-based outfit is moving in the right direction. Now, both Norris and Piastri will hope that they and the rest of the team can carry on this good work when the season resumes after the summer break this weekend for the Dutch Grand Prix.