Former Mentor of Sebastian Vettel and Lando Norris Reveals One ‘Wholesome Similarity’ Between Them

Sabyasachi Biswas | 13/12/2023

Trevor Carlin is a man who saw the likes of Lewis Hamilton, Sebastian Vettel, Lando Norris, and many other F1 drivers race under him in junior categories. Carlin, the founder of Carlin Motorsport, hence, knows the similarities and differences between all the drivers who are the epitome of racing talent. Therefore, he once brought out the ‘wholesome’ similarity between Vettel and Norris to Ben Hun.

Ben Hun, who wrote the book Lando Norris: A Biography quoted Carlin in this, “He [Lando Norris] is not that sort of guy [if Norris would change his lifestyle after getting fame.] A great example is Sebastian Vettel because he was racing with us in 2006 and 2007.

“I saw him at Hockenheim two years ago when his younger brother was doing an Audi support race and Seb was doing his brother’s pit board.”

Following this, he added, “I went over and asked him how he was doing and I said: “Hey, Seb, mind if I tell you something? You have never changed.” Admittedly, this was similar to the British driver who still lives and breathes racing and did not shed this behavior in life.

This was something Vettel did throughout his racing career. Nevertheless, the German former driver took four world championships and retired now. On the other hand, Norris is just getting started to get to the top of the pinnacle of motorsport.

Lando Norris and his development over the years

Lando Norris is easily one of the top talents in F1 right now. If given a championship-worthy car, there is hardly a doubt that he would fail to win a race or even a championship. This is something he needs now as he is yet to record a GP win despite racing in Formula 1 for five seasons.

Luckily for him, McLaren is becoming a power to reckon with lately and are a few levels away from giving the young Briton a race-winning car. Even the Papayas also have immense faith in the 24-year-old and his talent.

As Norris is reaching prominence, he showed his class in the 2023 F1 season. Despite having started the year poorly, the McLaren man showed some stunning performances mostly in the latter half of the season.

Norris finished the season in P6 with 205 points, just one point behind P4 Fernando Alonso and P5 Charles Leclerc who took 206 points respectively. In the process, the British driver claimed seven podiums, five more than his teammate Oscar Piastri.

Post Edited By: Aishwary Gaonkar
Lando Norris Sebastian Vettel

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Sabyasachi Biswas

Sabyasachi Biswas is an F1 journalist at The SportsRush. With over one and a half decades of love for the sport and five years of experience in the field, he dreams to be a regular at the paddock when the lights go out. A Red Bull fan and F1 fan in general over the years, he enjoyed watching Felipe Massa, Sebastian Vettel, and Max Verstappen dominate the track. Apart from F1, he's also a big-time Madridista and Federer fanatic. He was a sub-junior level footballer, won inter-district quizzes and debate competitions back in school. A travel freak throughout, he tries different cuisines and learns new cultures whenever he's away from the keyboard.

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