McLaren praise Lando Norris as a star of the future

McLaren has hailed Lando Norris after his test debut on Wednesday, claiming that the 17-year-old is a star of the future. The Formula 3 championship contender drove the MCL32 around the Hungaroring on the second day of testing and lodged himself in between the two Ferrari drivers to go second fastest.

Norris is challenging for the 2017 FIA Formula 3 European championship this season and joined McLaren at the start of the year as a junior driver. After his successful day of running, McLaren racing director Eric Boullier believes that he is someone to watch out for in the next number of years.

"Lando has impressed us all with his maturity, professionalism and speed," said Boullier. "He got to grips very quickly with the car in only his first outing in the MCL32. His feedback with the engineers has been valuable and accurate, and he's certainly an asset to our test driver line-up – not to mention a potential star of the future."

Speaking after the test, Norris said it was a very exciting day for him: "Today has been a very exciting day for me, and something I've looked forward to for quite some time. It's been a really good day – and a very productive one for all of us.

"I managed to get through all the tests that the team asked me to complete, and everything went well. Getting used to the car was a bit of a challenge at first, but by the end of the day I felt very comfortable. I got a lot of laps under my belt and I really enjoyed the experience."

Norris has taken five wins in the Formula 3 championship so far and sits second in the standings, 18 points behind leader Maximillian Gunther. However, with 11 races left to run in the championship, it's still anyone's game. 

Fergal Walsh