Lando Norris will need to celebrate his Miami Grand Prix triumph by jumping into the lake at the McLaren Technology Centre if he is to honour a promise that he made during a vlog posted to his YouTube channel back in 2018.
The 24-year-old Brit climbed to the top of the podium at the 110th time of asking on Sunday, capitalising on a mid-race safety car to inherit the lead after running the alternate strategy. After the restart, Norris had the measure of three-time world champion Max Verstappen, stretching out a seven-second lead at the front en route to victory.
After pulling into Parc Ferme, Norris sprinted towards his McLaren crew, leaping clear of the barriers and kickstarting wild celebrations. Zak Brown was also beside himself with joy, but there is still one thing left for the Bristol-born racer to do before turning his attention towards the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix in two weeks.
In 2018, Norris was a test and simulator driver for the McLaren team, as well as part of their driver academy. While filming a vlog for his YouTube channel at the McLaren Technology Centre in Woking, he said: “I guess if I go and get my first win, I jump in,” while looking at the lake in the middle of the campus.
f anyone will hold Norris to account over his bold claims then it will be CEO Brown, who followed through on his promise to get a tattoo if Daniel Ricciardo won a race during his time at McLaren. The Aussie duly delivered at the 2021 Italian Grand Prix and his boss followed through, getting a permanent tattoo of the Monza circuit on his arm.
Brown didn’t rule out getting another tattoo to commemorate the second Grand Prix victory of his tenure either. When pressed about the idea, he responded: “Yeah I don’t mind Miami. It’s kind of my home country, so why not?”
Another member of Norris’ entourage who was ecstatic about his first win was race engineer Will Joseph, although he stopped short of promising a tattoo. “I feel like we can put Russia 2021 behind us now,” he told Sky Sports F1. “What a fantastic race.
“We said before the race, maybe our game is to go long and something happens. When the pace is there, you just do. It came out at the right time. We gave Lando the gaps for the first few laps then we saw he was comfortable and after that, we just left him alone, he was strong, he was good. Everyone at McLaren does a fantastic job.”
