Lando Norris Wants to Be the Next Sebastian Vettel: “Bit More Shy… But I’ll Learn

Being an F1 champion is an unbelievable achievement but what’s better is being an F1 champion and using that platform to educate people about social causes that are close to you. Sebastian Vettel and Lewis Hamilton are prime examples of it. The pair have often spoken out about important social issues. Now, Lando Norris is looking to follow Seb’s lead and speak up about things important to him.

Norris finished a rollercoaster of a season on a positive note. However, McLaren and the 23-year-old will be disappointed after finishing below Alpine in the WCC at P5.

But speaking of Sebastian Vettel’s legacy and his big impact on highlighting important climate change issues, Norris explained the importance of speaking about the “off-track” stuff.

The McLaren driver told Sky Sports F1 in Abu Dhabi, “I’m maybe a bit more shy than what Seb is, and has been in Formula 1, but I’ll learn. It’s about speaking the truth, speaking about honesty, and standing for your opinions – not just about racing things but also a lot of stuff that Seb has done.”

Norris further stated, “That is just as important now, in many ways – the influence we can have on youngsters, on the new audience that we have in Formula 1.”

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Seb might be retiring at the end of the season, but he has inspired several people to speak up for what’s right. His legacy of standing up for multiple issues will last long in the sport.

Lando Norris opens up about Mental Health struggles

Mental health is one of the biggest talking points in the world currently. Additionally, it is a good thing that more and more people are speaking out about the same. Not just F1 drivers, but athletes around the world are promoting mental health conversations. One such athlete is McLaren’s Lando Norris, who opens up about his own experience of struggling with his mental health in his rookie season.

Speaking on ITV’s This Morning, Norris said, “There are more programmes now where you get to see what the driver is like behind the scenes and the amount of pressure and stress they have to cope with.”

“Especially at my age, coming into Formula 1 at 19, there’s a lot of eyes on you. Dealing with all these kinds of things took its toll on me,” said the 23-year-old.

Norris and Daniel Ricciardo even raised around $350k for a mental health charity, ‘Mind’. The pair each designed a t-shirt that went on sale and 100% of the proceeds raised by the shirts were donated to the charity.

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Lando Norris finished the season at P7 in the WDC. He’ll hope McLaren can create a competitive car in order to challenge consistently for podium finishes. Can Lando Norris break into the top 4 of the WDC next season?