Two Overall Podiums Including Outright Victory From Three Front Row Starts

Lando Norris got his first full season in the FIA Formula 3 European Championship off to a flying start on “home” soil at Silverstone over Easter (13-16 April). The 17-year-old placed his Carlin-entered Dallara-Volkswagen first, ninth and third in the opening three races of the series and heads to the next event in Italy later this month lying third in the overall driver standings and first in the Rookie rankings.

Norris began the opening race on Friday afternoon from pole-position, the McLaren-Honda Young Driver’s maiden F3 ‘pole’ but from behind the Safety Car as light rain began to fall. Two further Safety Car interventions ensued to recover cars that had spun on the greasy track despite the rain having stopped. Lando, however, drove a superbly composed and mature race to win comfortably by almost two seconds having led every lap, breaking the two-year-old lap record four times during the 16-lap race.

Lando completed the first lap of Race 2 in eighth place, his “slick” rear tyres spinning massively when starting from the wet side of the track due to overnight rain. He moved up to seventh at mid-distance, having hassled Joey Mawson from lap one, and although immediately reduced the large gap to Mick Schumacher, forcing his way alongside on numerous occasions, Lando could not complete the overtake. Indeed, in attempting to get ahead on the penultimate lap combined with his tyres losing their optimum grip, Norris lost momentum and dropped two places, taking the chequered flag an unrepresentative ninth overall – third in the “Rookie” category.

The F3 grid lined-up in bight and dry weather conditions for the final race on Sunday morning, Norris once again starting from the outside of the front row. This time the BRDC SuperStar got away better but nevertheless dropped down to fifth at the first corner – completing lap one in fourth. The 2016 McLaren Autosport BRDC Award winner immediately challenged for third-place and moved ahead of Max Günther on the sixth lap. Lando reduced the 2.2secs gap to second-placed Joel Eriksson to under a second inside the next five laps but was unable to find a way past – Norris winning the Rookie division for the second time at Silverstone.

Lando is quickly back in action with rounds 4, 5 & 6 of the championship staged at Monza in Italy over 29-30 April. Norris won Formula Renault 2.0 Northern European Cup and EuroCup races at the ultra-fast 3.6-mile Autodromo Nazionale Monza track last year.