For anyone who’s found themselves binge-watching Drive to Survive - Netflix’s fly-on-the-wall Formula 1 documentary - the significance of this weekend won’t have escaped you. For one of the stars of the show, racing driver Lando Norris, Sunday heralds possibly the biggest race of the season. A British competitor, with a seat on historically one of the best British teams, it’s his home race and all eyes will be on him.
Catching up with the 23-year-old ahead of the British Grand Prix at Silverstone, ELLE spoke to the racing driver and television star about the pressure to perform, the impact that fame has had on his personal life and his desire to see more women in the sport.
Over its five seasons, Drive to Survive has charted the highs, lows, crashes, champagne sprays and egos of Formula 1. The show has offered incredible, at some points uncomfortable, detail about not just what it feels like to compete on the world stage, but also the things that go on behind the scenes too, as drivers lose their contracts, relationships sour and mistakes cost people their careers and occasionally their dignity.
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Norris landed one of McLaren’s two F1 seats when the show was already in its second season, meaning that his whole Formula 1 career (and his life outside of race weekends too) has been in front of the streaming service’s camera lenses.
There are generous pros to a life on reality TV. In 2020, at the Austrian Grand Prix, the cameras were there to watch him set the fastest lap time of the race, giving him a race one podium, the first of his F1 career, and also making him the third youngest podium finisher ever. The joy in the paddock was palpable through the television screen. The Netflix platform, coupled with a great smile and charisma that sees him spend a lot of time joking around with former teammates Carlos Sainz and Daniel Ricciardo, has made Norris one of the stand-out personalities on the show, increasing his fan base exponentially. He has over 6 million fans on Instagram and a further million on TikTok. ‘[Drive to Survive] has been a great thing for Formula 1,’ Norris says, ‘It’s grown the audiences, the age range of viewers has come down, a lot of women and girls have gotten into motorsports now.’
But there are drawbacks too. While relatively cavalier about his own experience: ‘it feels normal for me’, he acknowledges that it’s not always plain sailing. ‘I’m not an actor,’ he accepts, ‘so it’s a bit complicated at times.’ He contemplates every now and then the ramifications for his friends and family, too. ‘It’s weird when people around you are suddenly impacted by [your fame]. Privacy for my friends and family is a big concern, because they are not always ready or knowledgeable about how easily you can get caught out when you say something publicly. It’s a weird thing to think of, to think that you are affecting other people’s lives who might want to be more private.’
Norris has every reason to feel the heat of the spotlight this week. After a couple of years of ups and downs for McLaren, recent adjustments to Norris’ car seem to have made a positive difference, with the proof being his last race at the Austrian Spielberg circuit. Hitting an impressive pace, Norris finished just shy of a podium position in P4 (after another driver’s penalty bumped him up from P5), landed the fastest pit time, scored the ‘driver of the day’ accolade and also a confidence boost which will surely put him in a great spot ahead of race number 11.
‘To come into my home race [like that], it couldn't get much better really. The team did a good job. There are some new bits on the car to make it quicker, so it's nice to see that they’re working. We have a few more updates ahead this weekend, too. I always look forward to my home race no matter what, but it makes me look forward to it even more,’ Norris beams.
With some incredible Brits having driven for McLaren over the years, including James Hunt (you’ve likely seen the movie Rush), Lewis Hamilton (before he joined Mercedes) and the dashing and much lusted-after Jenson Button, you’d be forgiven for thinking Norris has reason to be especially nervous in the face of the UK crowd. As it turns out, he’s not, his youth and talent giving him the vigour to cruise through. ‘I know that the pressure is there, but it just doesn’t affect me,’ he says. ‘I want to go out there and do the best job that I can, but I do it for myself rather than any external pressure. I am a bit more hungry to make the British fans proud though.’
Plus, he just loves the home circuit. ‘Silverstone is a pretty big place,’ Norris explains, ‘There are people performing music, it feels more like a festival or a big weekend out, rather than just turning up to the grandstand and watching the race. I think that makes the whole experience better, because you can go there with all your friends and family and do lots of different things. And the fans are the best. Of course I am biased, but they’re the best fans because they’re not too crazy. They’re excited and cheering and clapping, but it’s just a good amount. It’s passionate, but not in a crazy way.’
Among those fans, as we’ve briefly touched on already, are an increasing number of women. Thanks in no small part to the insight and drama of the Netflix show. Seeing more women in the sport is something that Norris feels strongly about though. ‘There are more women in the paddock than ever before,’ he points out, ‘Working in roles from engineer, through to mechanic or marketing. There are so many more women in racing from even when I started in F1 back in 2019. But there are no women F1 drivers, because it’s such a complicated thing to tackle. You can’t just have a girl that rocks up and starts as a Formula 1 driver, just as you can’t have a random guy come in and do that either. You have thousands and thousands of people who want to do it, and only 20 seats in the world for drivers.’
As you may or may not know, Formula 1 drivers are groomed for their professional careers from a very young age. Most will begin in karting, before they work their way up, often through Formula 4 all the way up to Formula 1, if they are good enough. So, if young girls aren’t ever being encouraged to try karting, the likelihood of them ever making it to a formal race later in their lives is slim to none. ‘We just need to get more girls into racing,’ says Norris, ‘And that’s starting from the beginning, at the ages of 6, 7, 8, 9 or 10 years old. Because it’s one of the most difficult sports to get into and you have to get people interested in it at that age. It’s definitely progressing – McLaren and Formula 1 are both doing a lot of work in this area. But it takes time.’
And time, right now, isn’t something Norris has much more of for chatting, as he’s off to get race ready ahead of the weekend. Watch out for McLaren’s shiny silver livery on Sunday, at what will hopefully be a fun event.
You can watch the race at 3pm on Sky Sports and Channel 4, with highlights shown a few hours later on Channel 4.
Drive to Survive season 6 is reportedly due to air in February 2024.
Natasha Bird is the Former Executive Editor (Digital) of ELLE.
