Verstappen hails Norris as a star of the future

Max Verstappen has offered his praise to Lando Norris, who has attracted the attention of motorsport fans around the world in the last 12 months. The young Brit is currently competing in his first season of the F3 European Championship, leading the standings by 11 points.

Norris is a junior driver for McLaren and many have tipped the 17-year-old to take up a race seat with the Woking team in the coming years. Speaking to Sky F1 this week, Norris admitted that his F1 future is very dependant on the decisions of Fernando Alonso.

"It really depends on what Fernando does next year," he said. "McLaren are doing their best to keep him, he's an extremely good driver as he has showed with a not perfect package this year. I need to speak to Zak [Brown] and Eric [Boullier] to see when they can to put me in the car," he said. "But it's not really down to me, it's down to them and whether they rely on me."

Norris recently took part in the in-season test at the Hungaroring, which was held in the days following the Hungarian Grand Prix. He impressed many, setting a lap time quicker than Fernando Alonso's qualifying time (albeit on a softer tyre).

"My impressions are probably no different than yours," Verstappen said. "Lando Norris is very strong, and he is only 17 years old. Clearly he is promising for the future and a driver we'll hear a lot about. I was able to learn a lot and found that the cars are not unlike Formula 1. I'm sure F3 is one of the main reasons I made it so quickly into Formula 1."

Verstappen also spoke about Mick Schumacher, who is also contesting in this year's F3 European Championship. The son of seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher has been given advice from Verstappen, who says it's important to concentrate on himself.

"If I had to give Mick some advice, then it would be to concentrate completely on yourself. Don't look left and right to the others," Verstappen, who stepped out of F3 straight into F1 stardom, told Speed Week. "It sounds simple but I think it's the right recipe."

Fergal Walsh