At the beginning of 2017, the entry of Lando Norris into the McLaren Formula 1 young drivers program was announced.

Initially recruited as third driver for the British team, his engagement as official driver is announced towards the end of the 2018 F1 season, replacing Stoffel Vandoorne, alongside Carlos Sainz Jr.

Probably, as Norris says, speaking on the F1 official podcast Beyond the Grid, the relationship that was established between the two teammates was one of the keys to the success of McLaren who finished placing fourth in the constructor’s standings last year.

“Without working how we did last year, and having our own principles and respect for one another and trying to help each other and be a team, we would not have finished fourth in the constructors’.”

“A lot of good results from him were obviously helped by me, and a lot of my results which were good were helped by him, so we’ve worked really well together and I think that’s been very beneficial for us.” he concluded.

The 2019 F1 season was a bit of a surprise for all those who didn’t believe that the McLaren team would have been able to get up after the several problems accused the years before.

Looking at the 2020 season, Lando admits that his friendship with Sainz could probably become competitive.

“I know at some point in the future and this year, it’s going to get more tense and more iffy.”

“We’re going to probably fall out a few times in terms of getting frustrated with one another, [if] he holds me up... or I hold him up or something. Not on purpose, because I don’t think it will ever go that far. But you lose out on a position or something because you’re racing, or you’re side by side and you squeeze him and he has to run off or I have to run off the track.”

“You’re going to have something like that, and someone’s going to be annoyed about it and one of us is going to be unhappy. Yes, I think that is going to happen.”

“We don’t have rules, and we don’t have team orders,” he added. “but we have a very good understanding with one another for our best interests for each other and ourselves, but also the team, and what we want to achieve with the team… and for that is to do what we did last year.

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