2
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
Grand Prix of BelgiumLocal time
Grand Prix of BelgiumLocal time
Bahrain International Circuit - Winter testing
M. Verstappen
C. Sainz jr
C. Leclerc
Bahrain
Bahrain
Bahrain International Circuit
Bahrain
Bahrain International Circuit
Saudi Arabia
Jeddah Street Circuit
Australia
Albert Park
Japan
Circuit Suzuka
United States of America
Miami International Autodrome
Monaco
Monte Carlo
Canada
Gilles Villeneuve
Spain
Circuit de Catalunya
Austria
Red Bull Ring
United Kingdom
Silverstone
Hungary
Hungaroring
Belgium
Spa-Francorchamps
Netherlands
Circuit Zandvoort
Italy
Monza
Azerbaijan
Baku City Circuit
Singapore
Marina Bay Street Circuit
United States of America
Circuit of the Americas
Mexico
Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez
Brazil
Interlagos
United States of America
Las Vegas Street Circuit
United Arab Emirates
Yas Marina Circuit
755,643 comments on Red Bull Racing
968 members have this team as their favourite
Tweets about Max Verstappen
282,882 comments on McLaren 156 members have this team as their favourite Tweets about McLaren
Replies (2)
Login to replyBarron
Posts: 625
Norris' F1 future dependent on decisions by Alonso? He's screwed then.
f1fan0101
Posts: 1,804
Alonso will retire in the next couple of years. Enough time for Norris to do a year (or two) in F2