In this article, I will be describing the highs and lows of 2020 for Lando Norris and how he can build on them for 2021.
Off the back of a successful rookie season in 2019, Lando Norris arrived at Austria with a heightened sense of confidence and self-belief to have another great season. Immediately, he qualified fourth, improved to third after a grid penalty for Hamilton, which was his highest ever grid position in F1. And, in a crazy race, after dropping back down the order a bit, a collision between Albon and Hamilton, with Hamilton being awarded a five second time penalty, gave Norris an opportunity to snatch a maiden podium. He would have to work for it though, sending it down the inside of Sergio Perez and, in a blindingly fast last lap, which saw him take the fastest lap of the race, Norris closed the gap down to 4.8 seconds to Hamilton in front. This would be enough to overtake him due to the time penalty and take a sensational third position. Lando was obviously ecstatic, celebrating jubilantly after his first ever podium in Formula One.
- Norris celebrated his first F1 podium in Austria by leaping into the arms of team boss Zak Brown
After such a great start, Norris saw the opportunity the next race, at the same track a week later, to get another highly successful result. This time though it was to be his teammate, Carlos Sainz, who qualified P3 in a wet session, while Norris was P6, but the race was a different story. After a slow pitstop for Sainz, Norris overtook him and was running in eighth place until there were two laps to go. Then, Stroll tried to overtake Ricciardo ahead and they both ran wide, allowing Norris to pass the Renault but Stroll held on. In the last lap, Norris managed to overtake Stroll and also pass Perez in the last corner, who had been slow from wing damage sustained in a collision, and came home fifth. After the race, he described it as his best race ever in Formula One, even topping his performance the week before.
At the Hungaroring, the McLarens struggled for pace and Norris qualified P8, before bad strategy eventually led to him to coming home thirteenth, overtaking Esteban Ocon on the last lap to continue the trend of Last Lap Lando. However, a solid P5 in both qualifying and the race at Silverstone allowed Norris to forget about Hungary and keep delivering great results. A P10 followed a week after for the 70th Anniversary Grand Prix, but it was on a race where his teammate finished a lacklustre thirteenth so it wasn't a bad result for Norris, with all things considered. In addition, it would be another mediocre P10 for Norris in Barcelona, after an uneventful race, and the early season success had begun to fade away for the young Brit.
Lando had an excellent race at Spa though, improving to seventh after qualifying tenth. Then came Monza... The McLarens had had impressive pace all weekend, as Sainz qualified P3 and Norris P6. A great start for both of them saw them running P2 and 3 after the first couple of laps, only trailing Lewis Hamilton, and pulling away from the cars behind. Then, after Kevin Magnussen retired by the pit entry, a safety car was brought out so they could remove the car, but the pitlane was also closed. Hamilton hadn't noticed the red crosses and pitted anyway and was severely punished, handed a ten second stop-go penalty for entering the pitlane when it was closed. Effectively, the McLarens were now running first and second and hopes of a dream result were skyrocketing. However, the story is not over yet.
- Norris was holding off Bottas for P3 in the race
A heavy crash for Charles Leclerc at Parabolica brought out the red flag, meaning that drivers such as Pierre Gasly and Lance Stroll, who hadn't pitted before, were able to change their tires and still maintain track position. The McLaren duo were now behind a host of slower cars and their main threats, such as Valtteri Bottas in the Mercedes, were able to close the gap back down. The McLarens picked off many of the cars and Norris was running P4 with Sainz P2, with only around ten laps remaining. Norris couldn't catch up to Stroll ahead but did manage to hold off Bottas behind, as Sainz finished second by four tenths of a second to Gasly. It was a rollercoaster day for McLaren and Lando Norris, as hopes of another podium drifted away after the red flag, but it was still an impressive P4 and, rejuvenated after McLaren's blinding pace, Norris charged into the rest of the season, ready to take another podium or two and maybe even his first win. Things were looking up.
Next up was Mugello, where another hectic race saw Norris improved from P11 to P6 at the flag, another impressive result for Lando. Sochi was a different story though. While McLaren had pace, qualifying sixth and eighth, a disaster for Sainz at Turn 1, where he took to the escape road with too much speed and crashed into the wall, saw him collide into Norris and ruin both of their races. Norris would eventually come home to finish a disgruntled fifteenth place and McLaren tried to forget about the result they could've had. At the Nurburgring, Norris qualified eighth but an engine failure midway through the race left him with no points for the second time in a row. Portimao was not better either, as a collision with Lance Stroll saw Norris drop to P13 and once again receive no points for his efforts. Things weren't looking so great at this point.
- A collision with Lance Stroll at the Portuguese Grand Prix ruined Norris' race and he was fuming after the race
Nevertheless, Norris bounced back with a P8 at Imola and another one at Turkey. These weren't amazing results, especially compared with his teammate, but it was better than nothing. In Bahrain, after a great race, including a horrific crash for Romain Grosjean which he miraculously walked away from, Norris managed to finish the race a highly impressive fourth position and only three seconds off a podium place. A crazy race in Sakhir didn't quite work out for Norris, finishing P10 but he bounced back marvellously in Abu Dhabi, the season finale, as he qualified fourth and comfortably took fifth position at the end of the race, helping the team to a brilliant third place in the Constructors Championship.
At the end of the season, Norris had finished ninth in the standings, just one point behind the highly rated Charles Leclerc, and this was a solid result for him. But was 2020 a successful season for Norris? Well, it saw him claim his first podium as well as fastest lap and he finished two places higher in the standings compared to last year, with almost double the points. He also only finished 8 points off his more experienced teammate as opposed to the 47 points difference last year. However, there were some more challenging moments, such as the three-race run he went on without scoring a single point. Yet, all in all, 2020 was a majorly successful season for Lando Norris and he can hope to build on it in 2021 with the experienced race winner, Daniel Ricciardo, to learn from next year. If McLaren can improve their car to a race-winning team over the next few years, then you can be sure that Lando will be right in there, fighting for wins and even the world championship.
- If McLaren can keep closing the gap to the top two at the rate they are doing, Norris could soon be regularly fighting for race wins
By Marcus Woodhouse