Lando Norris: How McLaren driver has developed into world title contender

A few races later, Norris jokingly served Alonso a cup of tea during a wet practice session at the US Grand Prix in Austin. But soon he was the apprentice no longer.

In his debut season in 2019, Norris was immediately a match for his team-mate Carlos Sainz, who had four years’ experience, and he destroyed then seven-time race-winner Daniel Ricciardo when the Australian joined the team in 2021.

By then, Alonso had returned to F1 after two years in other categories. He and Norris swapped helmets. The Spaniard wrote on the one he gave to Norris: “You are a star – a rock star.”

Norris quickly became a fan favourite, with his diffident-but-jokey personality, and willingness to show his true self on social media. His public profile built through the Covid-19 pandemic as he live-streamed himself playing video games, and he used that to build his gaming and lifestyle brand Quadrant.

Brown says: “He used to be very shy and he still kind of is a quiet, shy guy in his own way. Even though he kind of comes off as extroverted, he’s actually not. But as he’s become more mature, I have seen him become more comfortable in his skin.

“He has never lacked confidence. He was a young kid when I first met him, he was 14. So what I’ve seen outside of becoming a better racing driver, (is) a better team leader, more prescriptive in what he wants. And his on-track performance has grown with it.”

It has taken time for Norris to establish himself as a front-runner in F1.

In their first few years together, the McLaren car was not fully competitive, although Norris came close to a win with a superb performance in Russia in 2021, only to misjudge the incoming weather and not pit for wet tyres in a late downpour.

Norris kept the faith, signing two contract extensions, despite interest from Red Bull. That, Brown says, was down to “relationships, transparency, visibility to what we were doing. He’s comfortable here. This has been his family since day one.”

Norris’ career trajectory turned midway through 2023, a year that started with a restructuring of McLaren’s engineering group by Andrea Stella, who had been made team principal the previous December.

The first fruit of Stella’s reshuffle was an upgrade package for the Austrian Grand Prix in July 2023. It vaulted McLaren from close to the back to become the closest challengers to dominant Red Bull.