“Nico Rosberg, He Won a Championship and He Was Out”: Lando Norris Doesn’t Rule Out F1 Retirement Like Ex-Mercedes Star

Tanish Chachra | 14/02/2023
“Nico Rosberg, He Won a Championship and He Was Out”: Lando Norris Doesn’t Rule Out F1 Retirement Like Ex-Mercedes Star

By saying that he might retire early from Formula 1, Max Verstappen has generated the topic of whether it’s necessary to continue in the sport after winning a world championship early yet continuing to increase your tally.

The Dutchman believes he wants to do more things in life and could get away once his contract with Red Bull expires. Though, it’s a luxury for those drivers who haven’t been as successful as Verstappen.

Nonetheless, F1 takes a lot from its drivers and people working on the ground. Constantly on the move to do more than 20 races takes a toll and asks for compromises from the other spheres of life.

Also read: George Russell Reckons He Could’ve Delivered 2 Race Wins in 2022 If Mercedes Hadn’t Botched Their Tyre Strategy

Lando Norris can opt for Nico Rosberg type of retirement

During McLaren’s 2023 car launch, Lando Norris was asked whether he agreed with his contemporary Verstappen on retirement and could do the same. Norris responds that he isn’t at the stage where he is pondering over anything beyond his F1 career.

But once the stage comes where he has accomplished race wins and a championship, he could incline over anywhere. He cites Nico Rosberg’s retirement right after winning the championship as an example.

“When you accomplish these things, then you never know. I guess, similar to [Nico] Rosberg, he won a championship and he was out of here so it’s different for [different] people. My focus all the time is on Formula 1 now and it shall be until I say otherwise,” said Norris to PlanetF1.

Already felt the senior driver in the team

In 2023, for the first time, Norris would be the senior driver in terms of experience as Oscar Piastri, the 2021 F2 champion, joins McLaren for the season. Therefore, he was asked whether he’ll change his racing approach this year.

The Briton responds that he’ll only have more responsibilities next season. But he also reckons that a large portion of that was already there in 2022 and was kind of leading the team despite being the junior driver compared to Daniel Ricciardo.

Norris also states that compared to Piastri, he always had the luxury since he was always in McLaren’s system. So, the same cannot be expected from the young Australian driver.

He expects his new teammate to gradually learn these things and eventually implement them in his career. Therefore, there are naturally more expectations from Norris.

Also read: What Do Drivers Do During F1 Pre-Season Testing?

Post Edited By: Tanish Chachra
Lando Norris McLaren

About the author

Tanish Chachra

Tanish Chachra is the Motorsport editor at The SportsRush. He saw his first race when F1 visited India in 2011, and since then, his romance with the sport has been seasonal until he took up this role in 2020. Reigniting F1's coverage on this site, Tanish has fallen in love with the sport all over again. He loves Kimi Raikkonen and sees a future world champion in Oscar Piastri. Away from us, he loves to snuggle inside his books.

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