Lando Norris Explains Why He Drives McLaren’s 2nd Car Despite 4-Year Seniority Over Oscar Piastri

F1 cars are mandated to run the same livery for both their cars. Therefore, the teams often try to distinguish their drivers, so that fans can recognize them on TV or on track. One way of doing this is to color the T-Cam on top of the cars differently. The general rule of thumb is that the black T-Cam is for the senior drivers while the yellow T-Cam is for the second driver. That, however, isn’t the case at McLaren.

McLaren uploaded a video on their official X (formerly Twitter) account to explain how fans can tell which driver is driving which car whilst on track. Lando Norris was tasked with explaining this, and he revealed why he prefers to use the yellow T-Cam despite being the senior driver on the team.

Norris debuted in the sport at the beginning of the 2019 season. His teammate Oscar Piastri, on the other hand, completed his rookie season last year. Naturally, within the team, Norris holds the entitlement to use the black T-Cam.

However, according to the 2024 Miami GP winner, he chose the ‘second driver’s’ car because “Normally my one [T-Cam] is to match my helmet. There’s a yellow sticker on the outline of it. Because my helmet is yellow, I have the yellow one.”

Norris also went on to explain the other ways that fans can differentiate between the two drivers. One such way, as Norris explained, was the helmet designs.

While he sports a yellow helmet, Piastri has one with accents of blue, red, and yellow. The other way to distinguish between them is their driver numbers. Norris is #4 while Piastri is #81.

Which other F1 drivers prefer driving the ‘second car’?

Up until very recently, the yellow T-Cam car was designated for the second driver. But Norris is one among many who have now ditched this norm. Lewis Hamilton, who also sports a yellow color scheme on his helmet, has the yellow T-Cam on his W15.

Moreover, Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso also has a predominantly yellow-colored helmet livery. Hence, even the #14 driver prefers to run the yellow T-Cam AMR24 while his younger teammate Lance Stroll uses the black T-Cam car.