Lando Norris admits F1 rival Lewis Hamilton made him fall in love with McLaren 

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Lando Norris has revealed the role Lewis Hamilton played in making him fall in love with McLaren. 

Hamilton, 41, started his Formula career with McLaren back in 2007, driving alongside two-time world champion Fernando Alonso. 

Despite being a rookie, Hamilton challenged for the world title and only lost out to Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen by one point.

Since then, he has won seven world titles and is arguably the best driver in the rich history of F1.

At the age of 41, Hamilton is still going strong, having produced impressive performances in 2026 and secured his first win for Ferrari in Barcelona.

Lando Norris admits sharing podium with Lewis Hamilton was ‘pretty cool’

Speaking recently on the Beyond The Grid podcast, Norris was asked how proud he feels to have his name on the same trophy as some of the sport’s greatest-ever drivers.

In response, the 26-year-old spoke about Hamilton and Alonso being two of his heroes and recalled watching them race for the first time back in 2007.

Norris then admitted that sharing the same podium with Hamilton in Barcelona last month gave him a ‘throwback feeling’ of being a kid again.

He said that Hamilton was his ‘main’ driver and after watching him race alongside Alonso, he has loved McLaren ever since.

Norris said: “I think the easy one to say is Lewis. And kind of Fernando at the time. I watched both of them in McLaren in 2007, so the first race I can remember watching was 2007. Don’t know, it was Indianapolis or Silverstone maybe?

“I remember watching them and seeing Lewis on the podium, so like for me, that was one of my earliest memories of F1, seeing Lewis on the top step.

“That’s why Barcelona was cool because I think it was the first time I got to share a podium when he was on the top step again.

“That kind of just gave me a little throwback feeling to me as a kid again; that was just pretty cool for me to kind of share the moment.

“Lewis is probably the main one and Fernando because they were the two guys at McLaren at the time and I’ve loved McLaren ever since.”

Where would Max Verstappen and Lando Norris rank among McLaren’s greatest line-ups?

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Back in 2017, Norris first joined the McLaren set-up by entering the team’s driver development programme and was quickly promoted to test and reserve driver for the 2018 season.

In 2019, Norris became an F1 driver for McLaren as he made his debut as Carlos Sainz’s teammate.

Since then, the Brit has recorded 11 wins, 46 podiums and 16 pole positions in 160 entries.

Last year, Norris reached the pinnacle of motorsports as he clinched his maiden F1 world championship, beating Max Verstappen by just two points after a thrilling title decider in Abu Dhabi.