Despite racing at Silverstone many times in his junior career, Lando Norris says racing in front of his home fans for the first time as a Formula 1 driver means a lot to him as he bids to extend his points scoring run to three races this weekend.
The McLaren F1 Team racer equalled his season’s best result last time out when he finished sixth in the Austrian Grand Prix, and he is focused on enjoying his time at Silverstone, where he expects to see fans dressed up supporting the Woking-based team and himself.
“Going to my first home race as an F1 driver means quite a lot to me,” admits Norris. “I’ve done a lot of racing there before in the junior formulae but having a home race in Formula 1 is totally different.
“I can’t wait to see all the fans dressed in papaya, experience the atmosphere and enjoy the weekend.”
Norris has fond memories of his last visit to Silverstone in FIA Formula 2 in 2018, with a double overtake on Nyck de Vries and Artem Markelov at the final sequence of turns a particular highlight as he fought his through to a podium.
However, the most important thing for the nineteen-year-old is to keep the momentum McLaren has shown in recent races going as they bid to further extend their advantage over the chasing pack in fourth place in the Constructors’ Championship.
“The track itself is fast, fun and good for overtaking, and I enjoyed my weekend there in F2 last year, especially when I overtook two cars going through Turns 16 and 17,” said Norris. “Hopefully we’ll be able to do something similar this weekend.
“The most important objective from the weekend is that we keep up the good work and keep pushing as hard as we can for those points.”
