"You never forget your first"
- pitwallstories
- Jul 25, 2024
- 3 min read
Updated: Jul 30, 2024
Lando Norris. 24 years old, British driver for McLaren Formula 1 Team. Since the first day he arrived in the paddock, he’s been wearing the color papaya. And it’s in this color that he wanted to achieve his dream of winning a Formula 1 race. In 2024 he became the only driver with zero wins after 110 races, 15 podiums. But zero wins. He knows the weight that is on his shoulders. The eyes of the world, of his beloved team, watching him in waiting. The pressure to do good, to do better, to do more. He knows what he is capable of, the world knows it too and yet he always finds himself one step behind the highest stoop of the podium. Drowning in insecurities and self-doubt. Always looking up at the winner but never looking down on the crowd.
He remembers his last win in Bahrain, during the 2018 Formula 2 season, when he was only 19 years old but finally standing on the highest step of the podium. He remembers that feeling, the feeling of having done it, of part of a dream coming true. He longs to be able to feel like that again, in Formula 1. And then he remembers, brokenhearted, that dark day in the Sochi Russian Autodrome, where one wrong decision cost him his first victory after taking pole position the day before. He recalls, eagerly, that feeling of almost having it. Of getting so close but being forced to watch it fade away in one turn.
Miami Grand Prix, 2024; after 110 races, 15 podiums, years of heartbreaks, near misses and close calls, he can finally change that 0 into a 1. “It’s been a long time coming, we’ve been getting closer and closer [...] We’ve never been able to put it all together and today was that day. Today is the day that it all paid off.” Lando says for SkySports. An ear to ear grin is plastered on his face as beads of sweat drip off his curls and mix with the champagne drops, sticking to his fireproof. They ask Lando Norris if he can sum up what he is feeling and share his excitement with the rest of the world. A public who is still unable to speak, still not believing the events of the Miami Grand Prix. His response?
"I don't know what I'm feeling, I'm just happy."
Because what he is feeling cannot be asked, it cannot be described in words. But what he's feeling can be seen. In the happiness in his eyes, in the joyful screams of the McLaren team as they catch him mid-air, in the tears of his fans that today witnessed magic. A happiness Lando Norris gladly shares with everyone around him, finally being able to experience the highs of a race win. He feels the love and support that has always been there for him, waiting in the paddock but shadowed by his personal criticism towards his own performances. He shares this happiness with his Team Principal, the Italian Andrea Stella, who waits for him with open arms and ready to embrace him in a fatherly hug that today counts for two.
Lando Norris smiles. He smiles to the camera, to the crowd chanting his name and to every single driver who comes over to shake his hand to congratulate him. He smiles when the invincible Max Verstappen says: “If I’m not the one winning, I’m happy it’s him [Lando Norris]”, or when old teammate Daniel Ricciardo comments, saying: “I’m genuinely proud to see him get his first win.” Because everyone on the grid knows that you ‘never forget your first’ and they all want to make sure that Lando will never forget this day. “I stayed positive.. I know it’s rare but I stayed positive.” he admits with a chuckle. Proof of how hard he’s always been on himself as the pressure to do more, to do better got to him multiple times in the past.
But if we could all say one thing to Lando Norris, 24 years old, British driver for McLaren Formula 1 Team and now race winner, it would definitely be to keep staying positive, to believe in himself because today was only the first of many. Just like George Russell said: “It was always when, not if.”
And Lando, remember what happened today. Remember this moment. The time we all stood breathless, with our eyes glued to the screen and with our hands shaking. Remember the day when the crowds in the stands went wild, screaming your name.
Written by Fran
