Despite the fact that a quarter of the grid will have been renewed in less than a year with a massive arrival of young drivers in 2024 and 2025, Lando Norris thinks that the teams are however taking a risk by hiring young drivers. The McLaren F1 resident welcomes the performances of Liam Lawson, Oscar Piastri and Franco Colapinto, but he explains that the proof is over a longer term.
“It’s always a risk, that’s for sure.” Norris said. “I think what we're seeing is some very talented drivers coming out on top. I feel like I'm older when I say this, but Liam, Oscar, Franco, you're going to see a lot of drivers come in and do a good job, perform well, qualify well.”
“I think it's what's most natural for drivers. But I think Formula 1 is not just one weekend, two weekends or three weekends.”
“It's about 24 races, a whole season and the development of the car over the seasons. And I think you'll see, and I think there are a lot of drivers who can come in and drive a car Formula 1 quickly and I think that's the easiest thing.”
According to the Briton, who does not want to underestimate the adaptation of these young drivers, the most difficult thing in Formula 1 is to be at the top in the long term: “The hardest part is the longest part of everything.”
“It’s the 24 races, not crashing your car every weekend, not making those stupid mistakes, helping your team, being a team leader, not just looking at this season, but looking at the year next year and knowing when to make sacrifices for the following years.”
“There's a lot of things that make a driver a more complete driver than someone who can just come in and perform well one weekend. So there's both of those aspects, but I'm still impressed. And I think “It's always impressive to see how quickly these young drivers can be engaged today.”
