Whatever happens for Lando Norris over the remaining ten rounds of the 2024 season, this has already been the most important season of his Formula 1 career so far.
After several years of seemingly being stuck just below the highest echelon on the grid, regularly in the top five, snatching the occasional podium but unable to compete for victories, Norris was hoping to make that final step forward with McLaren in 2024.
So far, Norris has shown that while he is not the finished article, he is not intimidated by the prospect of fighting against Max Verstappen on track for a world championship title.
McLaren did not start the season with a race winning car, appearing to lose ground to Red Bull over the winter compared to how close they were at the end of last season. Even so, Norris had a typically solid start to his campaign, finishing sixth in the season opener in Bahrain two places ahead of team mate Oscar Piastri. A gamble to stay out under a Safety Car in Jeddah did not pay off, ultimately, but while he finished eighth after a slow stop under green flag conditions, he was at least ahead of Lewis Hamilton.
By round three in Australia, McLaren had started to find more pace and Norris would never qualify or finish outside of the top five over the rest of the season to date. His Melbourne weekend was excellent, likely maximising his car’s performance as much as possible to take his first podium of the season in third behind the Ferraris, before finishing behind them again at the next round in Japan.
Soon, Norris became a regular on the podium and a factor at the very front of the field. He took pole for the sprint race in China but fell to fifth after failing to hang on around the outside of the long first corner, then beat Sergio Perez to claim second place in the grand prix by splitting the two Red Bulls on the podium.
Then came the weekend that will live with him for the rest of his life. In Miami, Norris looked like he could be on for a frustrating weekend after he was taken out at the start of the sprint race, but karma decided to pay him back on Sunday. After extending his opening stint in the grand prix, Norris was gifted a Safety Car within the perfect window that allowed him to change tyres and resume still in the lead. He duly pulled away at the restart and never looked back, taking the chequered flag first for the first time in his career in a highly popular victory.
Although fortune had favoured him in Miami, Norris would prove over the next…
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