Lando Norris made his way into F1 with the help of a huge financial backing – almost $44,000,000 – from his father Adam Norris. However, despite putting in such a massive amount of money, as per Lando Norris’ biography, his father was once afraid of watching him race following a fatal accident that took the life of Anthoine Hubert in 2019.
The 2019 Belgian GP weekend saw the tragic death of Hubert, during the F2 feature race on Saturday. The young French driver was a victim of the Eau Rouge – Radillion complex, where he got involved in a multi-car crash and was T-boned by Juan Manuel Correa, resulting in his premature death.
Remembering Anthoine Hubert, two years on from his sad passing. 🧡 #AH19 pic.twitter.com/eHxiJhJsaP
— McLaren (@McLarenF1) August 31, 2021
The incident had absolutely shocked the F1 world. While the likes of Charles Leclerc and Pierre Gasly grieved due to the loss of their close friend, drivers including Norris were also traumatized.
Lando Norris reveals his father’s state of mind following Hubert’s accident
In the book Lando Norris: A Biography by renowned sports journalist Ben Hunt, the author reveals how Norris’ family was reluctant to let him race following Hubert’s incident at Spa. Norris himself was shaken and had admitted that he wasn’t feeling great about racing.
Norris explained how much the incident had affected his father and said, “The crash threw my dad’s mind because he comes to all the races. He sees it and knows a lot more. It hit my dad quite hard. He felt very sick. He had to go to the toilet to be sick.”
Lando Norris on Anthoine Hubert crash:
“What happened here on Saturday could happen to any of us.”https://t.co/ZdsZu5wew2 #F1 pic.twitter.com/oGzpmQ97op
— PlanetF1 (@Planet_F1) September 2, 2019
Norris further revealed that his father attends all the races but is so anxious about his son’s well-being that he does not watch the onboard footage during the race start. With things going even more wrong, like at Spa, it made it even harder for his father to come to terms with the fact that his son is participating in a sport that can claim lives.
However, life moved on, and things went back to normal. Norris kept putting in strong performances and was slowly able to repay his father’s investment.
Norris gets rid of his “Pay Driver” tag
Even though Norris had entered F1 with the help of the financial backing of his father, he has now managed to redeem the investment and pay his father back. With Carlos Sainz leaving McLaren in 2021, the Papaya outfit was desperate to secure the services of Norris, who, by then, had established himself as a decent driver.
He signed a contract extension with McLaren that secured his services for 2022 and 2023. However, just nine months later another extension deal was signed for 2024 and 2025. As per a report by BusinessF1, the second deal was just a way for McLaren to pay back Adam Norris what he had invested in his son.
Therefore, Norris has finally been able to shed off his pay driver tag. As of now, he is considered to be one of the best young talents on the grid, and maybe even a future world champion.
