Lando Norris once recalled how Helmut Marko left him speechless with Max Verstappen question

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Lando Norris’ loyalty to McLaren has well and truly paid off after years of fighting in the midfield and developing their car.

There were times that he easily could have jumped ship to a rival car, giving himself a better chance of winning the drivers’ championship instantly. However, he saw McLaren’s vision, and their sudden return to the front of the grid coincided with him reaching some of the best years of his career.

Norris took his first win in 2024, and since then, he has become a regular contender and was considered the favourite for the title at the start of the season. With six races to go this season, he now needs to find a way to hold off Max Verstappen’s late charge and get past teammate Oscar Piastri.

McLaren’s Andrea Stella looks tense as the fight for top honours approaches boiling point. Juan Pablo Montoya says Norris is McLaren’s ‘favourite’ after some tricky calls over the last few months. Piastri was audibly frustrated in Singapore after his teammate bumped into the side of him.

READ MORE: Ralf Schumacher can tell exactly what’s on Oscar Piastri’s ‘mind’ when he hears his radio messages

Helmut Marko left Lando Norris speechless after insisting Max Verstappen knew answer to question

Guenther Steiner thinks McLaren should back Piastri and favour him in their title fight, but Norris has been waiting six years for this moment. In fact, the last time he even competed for a championship was back in Formula 2, against the likes of Alex Albon and George Russell.

Before he progressed to Formula 1, he did a lot of winning. This impressed a lot of potential suitors, prompting Helmut Marko to arrange a meeting with him while competing in Formula Renault. One question he asked left the Briton completely stumped, though.

“I met Helmut Marko, actually, after qualifying on pole in Monaco, before being disqualified for having something illegal on the car,” he said on F1’s Beyond the Grid Podcast in 2020. “I was in Formula Renault, so 2016 or 2015. I was on pole, and my manager got a call from Helmut Marko.

“I went to go and see, from our paddock, which is like a mile away from where the track is, all the way to the paddock of F1. Awesome, like, hardly ever been in there. Onto the Red Bull barge, walked in, met him, had a little conversation. I still remember pretty much everything he said.

“He just kind of wanted to know a little bit about me I guess and ask me a few questions. How much does a Formula Renault car weigh? I’ve got no idea,” he continued. “I had to come up with something, didn’t I?

“I had to come up with ‘Yeah, 400kg, 426.’, and something like that. I think I actually ended up saying I don’t really know. The next thing he said was, I don’t know if I should say it, the next thing he said was ‘Well, Max would know, Max knows everything about the car.’, I didn’t know what to say after that.”

READ MORE: McLaren staff privately shared their plan for Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris after Singapore clash

What might have happened if Lando Norris joined Red Bull’s driver development programme?

Looking at the current situation, Norris’ path has played out well enough for him to be in contention to win a championship.

McLaren wasn’t afraid to throw him straight into a seat back in 2019, and although he impressed immediately, he still had a lot to learn.

Had he decided to join the Red Bull junior programme instead of McLaren’s, would he already have a championship to his name by now?

Being alongside Verstappen at some stage would have been a fascinating fight to see. The second driver issue that the team have faced may also have never unfolded.