Lando Norris now shares how he felt watching George Russell win his first F1 race

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McLaren driver Lando Norris has now shared how it felt watching friend and rival George Russell win his first Formula 1 race.

Norris was speaking on the Beyond The Grid Podcast ahead of the British Grand Prix.

Both Lando Norris and George Russell will be looking forward to racing at Silverstone this weekend in front of a home crowd.

The pair always get a brilliant reception alongside fellow countryman and seven-time World Champion Lewis Hamilton.

It’s not been the easiest season for Norris as McLaren have struggled to provide him with a competitive car.

The 23-year-old has extracted as much pace out of the McLaren as possible and achieved his best result of the season on Sunday.

After all the track limit penalties were applied, Norris achieved a fourth-place finish and doubled his points tally for the season.

However, Norris is very unlikely to achieve his first race win this season and emulate his good friend George Russell.

His Mercedes this season is more competitive than the McLaren but still nowhere near the dominant Red Bull car.

He can at least look back on the victory he achieved at the Brazilian Grand Prix last season.

Norris on Russell’s first F1 race win

Asked about how he felt when Russell achieved his maiden victory, Norris said: “I was very happy for him. I love George [Russell] as much as I did want to beat him and compete against him and so on.

“I’m just a driver that has a lot of respect for those kind of people. I have a lot of respect for the people I’ve grown up with, the people that I know are there because of their talent, and their work ethic.

“George is one of them so as much as at times I sure I wished and everyone wishes they could win a race, there’s always a little of that envy where I feel like I also could have won if I was in that position.

“At the same time, I try not to think of it, I just want to do the best job I can with what I’ve got.

“At the end of the day I was very happy for him, he showed what he can do. I’m a tough loser, but I’m not a sore loser.

“I have respect for the people I work with and people who achieve things because they deserve to have achieved those things.”

Norris will hope he can get his first race win with McLaren soon, as Russell will be sure to remind him he’s currently got one over him right now.

Whether that will be possible in future seasons remains to be seen, but McLaren will need to seriously improve their offering for that to be possible.

If that doesn’t look like it’s going to be the case, Norris may have to consider his future when the rule changes are applied in 2026.

He’s already been suggested as a possible driver for a new team when that rolls around.