Lando Norris has shown himself to be an incredible young talent so far in F1. The British driver began his career in 2019 with McLaren and has only been racing for them since his debut. Norris even signed a new multi-year contract recently with the Woking-based team beyond 2025. This longevity certainly showcases the team’s trust in Norris’ ability. However, the 24-year-old driver’s skills were once a pain in the a*s of his former rival Callum Ilott.
In a video that @Landobobnorris posted on X (formerly Twitter), Ilott discusses Norris’ reality. Speaking about it, the IndyCar driver said, “Lando was very small, but very, very fast and a bit of a pain in the a*s sometimes. Cuz he would just be so quick that you had to make sure that he wasn’t gonna get a better review in some area.”
Callum continued, revealing where he had met Norris. He stated that he first encountered Norris during his [Callum’s] third season of Formula 3 and thought his fellow British driver’s ability to drive was a “bit annoying.”
Ilott said that he subsequently discovered Norris had developed into a formidable driver when he visited Formula 1. The Briton explained that this was because Norris had ended up in an environment where he was presented with a whole package for testing to those who were associated with him.
callum talking about lando pic.twitter.com/S16FX6V56s
— Remi ⁴ (@landobobnorris) February 19, 2024
At the age of seven, Norris began his motorsport career with encouragement from his father, Adam Norris. Since then Norris has participated in many European karting competitions. However, as he advanced through the ranks, McLaren took notice of his skills and offered him his F1 debut.
Since then, Norris has established himself as a naturally quick driver. His skill set has even attracted the attention of some big teams like Mercedes and the current champion, Red Bull.
Where is the former rival of Lando Norris now?
While Lando Norris will begin his sixth season with McLaren, his former competitor, Callum Ilott will seize the chance to drive McLaren in the Indycar. Indeed, McLaren will use the British driver in this week’s Indianapolis to find a replacement for David Malukas, who is injured.
However, Ilott has already competed in Indycar races for the past two years with Juncos Hollinger, who last year reportedly established an important partnership with McLaren. At that point in the season, Romain Grosjean replaced Callum, leaving him without a seat.
Nevertheless, following the wrist dislocation suffered by McLaren’s recruit, Malukas, the 2020 F2 runner-up is much more likely to take over as his replacement. Earlier, McLaren was considering him for its reserve drive lineup, but with Ilott’s test, it is now certain that he is going to join the squad.
Besides this, Ilott visited the team last week to perform a seat-filling test where he expressed his sympathies for Maluka’s injury. However, while concluding, he also expressed his gratitude for the testing opportunity with McLaren. He said, “It’s a privilege to test this week with Arrow McLaren. I’m thankful they’re considering me for the opportunity.”
