At the age of 22, most Formula 1 drivers are still struggling to establish themselves on the grid – that is, if they’ve even reached the pinnacle of motorsport to begin with.
So when McLaren offered Lando Norris a multi-year contract extension worth tens of millions of pounds before the start of the season, it was a seismic vote in the then 22-year-old’s talent. And in the year In 2022, Norris proved that McLaren was worth every penny of its investment.
The new era of Formula 1 presented many opportunities for Norris and McLaren. But as they prepared for the first season in Bahrain, they discovered that their car had a fundamental problem.
Both Norris and his team-mate Daniel Ricciardo had no chance of competing for points, heating up the brakes easily. Instead, the pair had to settle for 14th and 15th, with Norris following his team-mate home after a well-timed safety car to help Ricciardo jump ahead.
But fears that McLaren were in for a painful 2022 season were allayed a week later in Jeddah. In his second attempt of the season, Norris was less than half a tenth away from reaching Q3 and ran in the top ten for the season. He missed out on sixth place in the final against Esteban Ocon, but seventh means Norris and McLaren will go home with more points than expected from the opening two rounds.
By the time they got to Melbourne, McLaren were having braking problems. At the Albert Park circuit, which is famous for its heavy braking zones, Norris undoubtedly made the top car, securing a second row start from the fourth row ahead of the two Mercedes. He brought the car home in fifth place ahead of Ricciardo in the race – with the help of his team-mate agreeing not to attack Norris for the closing laps as he ran low on fuel.
Imola came next. In the qualifier, Norris made his first mistake of the season. He was skidded off the slippery track in Q3 by Akke Minerali, but surprisingly asserted himself in third place in the sprint race. Despite a limited run in second practice, he took fifth on the grid in the Grand Prix, then fended off Charles Leclerc for a lap at the start. When Leclerc eventually overtook him, Norris was unable to keep pace with the Ferrari and the two Red Bulls – but not everyone behind him. Leclerc’s spin late in the race gave Norris third, and he moved around in the remaining laps to complete a fantastic, unexpected and rich podium finish.
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In typical Norris style, he downplayed the Imola success due to problems with both Ferraris in the race. But any driver outside of Red Bull, Ferrari and Mercedes would have appreciated it even more if they knew it was the only time of the season that they would stand on the podium – making it one of the best results of the year. Sadly, Norris was given a harsh dose of reality in Miami in the next round and retired after colliding with the injured AlphaTauri of Pierre Gasly.
With improvements coming to Barcelona, Norris should have high expectations for the Spanish Grand Prix. However, as soon as he arrived, he started to get sick. After being dismissed from media work by his team on Thursday, Norris’ participation in the race appears to be in real jeopardy after being diagnosed with tonsillitis. But despite his illness, he is determined to compete.
Norris ran too wide on lap 12 and could have made it to Q3 had his final lap time not been cancelled, but from 11th on the grid he did a fantastic job on race day. Struggling with low energy levels and the scorching Spanish heat, Norris didn’t let his physical condition cost him any time on the track, opening up command at the end of the moto to finish eighth – four places ahead of his team-mate. An exhausted Norris later admitted it was one of the toughest races he had ever endured.
But as Monaco said a few days later, there was a little recovery time for Norris. After putting his fitness level at around “90-percent”, he promptly stuck the McLaren fifth on the grid to regain “the best of the rest”. He lost just one place to George Russell in a neck-and-neck race from the pits in the race. Thanks to Fernando Alonso holding up half of the second half of the race, Norris had enough time to set the fastest lap of the race as he moved up to sixth. Battling tonsillitis in two races, Norris scored 14 points, while Ricciardo finished outside the top ten both times.
By the time Baku rolled around, Norris was back to full strength. But around the street circuit, he doesn’t seem to have the same race pace as Ricciardo and would probably have been overtaken by his team-mate if the team order hadn’t put him ahead. When the competition ended, the roles were reversed, but this time Norris was chosen to take the spot. For the first time since Bahrain, he actually crossed the line behind his team-mate.
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At Silverstone he achieved another ‘best of the rest’ sixth place and should have secured a place in the race except for a very late call that dropped him behind Alonso under the safety car. He had to finish one place again in Austria – after finishing less than three seconds behind Mick Schumacher, a five-second penalty for exceeding the track limits four times proved costly.
Norris’ qualifying heroics continued in France, taking the two Mercedes fifth on the grid and finishing seventh after being beaten by Alonso at the start. Then in the next round in Hungary, there was a quick qualification outside the top three teams – this time he tied for the best starting position of the year in fourth place. He was the first driver to reach the checkered flag in a midfield car, although he dropped to seventh at the end of the race.
Heading into the winter break, McLaren were 4th in the Constructors’ Championship in ’95, just 4 points behind Alpine – with the team’s ride at Norris in ’76. After a power unit penalty and a race stuck in traffic at Spa, Norris was hunting in Zandvoort, taking the usual grid slot as the best of the midfield. He may have lost out to Alonso in the race, but he was 10 places ahead of his team-mate who would have finished seventh in P45.
After scoring another six points at Monza, Norris arrived in Singapore with a variety of upgraded components on his car. He took full advantage of them in a long and difficult race, overtaking Alonso at the start and maintaining a strong pace to take fourth – truly the best possible result of the day and more than half a minute ahead of his team-mate. Suddenly, McLaren had the chance to fight for fourth in the Constructors’ Championship with Alpine – although 100 of the team’s 129 points belonged to Norris.
He got another ‘best of the rest’ finish by catching and passing Alonso. Norris had to settle for ninth in Mexico because of the wrong tires for the race and McLaren’s hopes of a fourth in the championship died when he retired with car trouble late in Brazil – although he earned a penalty for hitting Leclerc as they battled for third after a safety car restart.
But Norris capped off his most impressive season with another impressive performance in Abu Dhabi. He took seventh behind the top three in the final lap, then passed Russell at the start to run sixth on the first lap. Using a two-stop strategy, Norris ran seventh when Lewis Hamilton retired late before taking sixth, and took out Ocon in the closing laps to take a narrow victory at Alpine and pick up a bonus point for fastest lap in the process.
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Although McLaren were unable to beat their rivals into fourth place at the end of the season, Norris could do much to change this. He was the season’s top-performing driver eight times out of the top three teams and not the top-finishing driver, but out of the top three teams a further eight times – comfortably more than any other midfield driver.
His solo podium at Imola proved to be a midfield success and despite Alpine beating McLaren, Norris finished the season 30 points clear of Ocon and 41 points ahead of Alonso in the Drivers’ Championship. He made fewer mistakes than many of those ahead of him in the rankings. Norris wasn’t just a fantastic driver for the midfield teams – he was one of the best drivers on the entire grid.
With team principal Andreas Seid leaving the team to lead Audi’s entry into F1, work on continuing to improve McLaren’s fortunes at their factory and an exciting new team-mate in Oscar Piastri, who joins McLaren in 2023, promise great promise for the team in the coming years. If they can bridge the gap at the front of the field, they will be confident of competing against the best with a driver like Lando Norris in their car.
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