Lando Norris left Fernando Alonso ‘speechless’ at the Hungaroring before his F1 debut

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Lando Norris is now 116 races into his Formula 1 career. Only Red Bull’s Max Verstappen and Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton have been with their teams longer than he’s been at McLaren.

Norris joined the team as a junior driver back in February 2017. That preceded his first full season in the European F3 championship with Carlin.

The Englishman would go on to claim the title that year with nine wins, eight poles and 20 podiums in 30 races. He finished more than 50 points clear of his nearest challenger Joel Eriksson in a field that also included Zhou Guanyu and Mick Schumacher.

For reference, Verstappen won 10 races in the same series in 2014. Only Felix Rosenqvist (24) and Esteban Ocon (21) have bettered Norris’ podium haul.

It was clear at this point that the youngster had the potential to be a star in Formula 1. He graduated to Formula 2 the following year and finished runner-up to George Russell in the championship.

McLaren then decided he was ready for a full-time race seat in 2019 following Fernando Alonso’s retirement. He formed an all-new line-up alongside Carlos Sainz as Stoffel Vandoorne lost his drive.

Lando Norris stunned Fernando Alonso in 2017 Hungary test

Norris’ outstanding efforts in Euro F3 earned him the chance to test the MCL32 at the Hungaroring midway through the season. Compared to this year’s race-winning challenger, it was a relatively poor car that picked up just 30 points over the course of the season to rank ninth in the championship.

Still, Norris had the opportunity to share the track with world champions like Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen, both of whom were in action for Ferrari. Russell and Pierre Gasly, who would make it into F1 in the future, featured too, as did the returning Robert Kubica.

Norris set a 1:17.385 on the ‘ultrasoft’ tyres, lapping just two-tenths slower than Vettel in a title-contending Ferrari. He also outpaced Alonso’s 1:17.549 from Q3, and while he was on faster rubber, Pirelli estimated that the difference was less than half a tenth.

According to Speedweek, Alonso was ‘speechless’ when he saw the time. There was ‘disbelief’ up and down the pitlane at the pace the 17-year-old had shown.

McLaren bosses were unhappy with Lando Norris after Max Verstappen comments

Seven years later, Norris heads to the Hungarian Grand Prix in search of his second F1 win. He finally has a car quick enough to compete for victory at each race weekend.

Since breaking his duck in Miami, Norris has finished runner-up three times. He also battled Verstappen for victory in Austria before their late collision, and potentially threw away top spot in his home race by fitting soft tyres at the end rather than mediums.

Both team and driver are adjusting to having what is perhaps the fastest car on the grid all-round. McLaren bosses were unhappy with Norris for seemingly backing down in his dispute with new rival Verstappen post-Austria.

He’d initially demanded an apology, but arrived at Silverstone a few days later insisting that was no longer necessary. Martin Brundle saw it as a psychological victory for Verstappen, and some may feel that, for all his talent, Norris still needs to develop the edge of a champion.