Lando Norris: Road to World Champion
by Nate Saunders
“Hello, this is Zak Brown from McLaren, is this the World Championship hotline?”
—Team Principal Zak Brown to Lando Norris at the season-ending Abu Dhabi GP
Book early to avoid disappointment—your very own reserved seat in the Landostand, priced at a reassuringly expensive £540 for the 2026 British Grand Prix. Silverstone was once peopled by BRDC* stalwarts in grey slacks, blue blazers, and neckties, but they’ve long since gone the way of the dodo. Silverstone fomented “Mansell Mania” in the Eighties and “Hammer Time” in Lewis’ salad days, but they don’t begin to compare to the Gen Z contagion they call Lando-mania.
Lando Norris, as you might have heard, won the World Championship last year (2025). He triumphed after a season-long battle with McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri and Red Bull pantomime villain Max Verstappen, and more than once both Norris and McLaren seemed hell bent on snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. But the boy done good, winning by two points from his Dutch nemesis, and Nate Saunders has written this book in celebration.
The boy done good.
Caveat emptor. The road to Norris’ victory referred to in the book’s title doesn’t begin with the driver’s early career in karts and Ginetta Junior, nor even from his Formula One debut in 2019, but starts with the 2025 season opener, the Australian Grand Prix. This book isn’t a biography but an account of its subject’s battle to win the world championship, seen almost entirely from Norris’ perspective. Readers will look in vain for even the full results of each race—only the top three championship standings are given, and any detailed information about pole, fastest lap, drivers and constructors’ championship is MIA, if easily accessible elsewhere. The 17 other guys who were racing in each Grand Prix are relegated to little more than the role of spear carriers in this drama.
So, if that’s the caveat, what can the emptor expect? As I’ve come to expect from this publisher, this is a classy, beautifully produced book at an almost bargain price. Its 224 pages (not the 192 mentioned in the publicity blurb) are a race-by-race account of Norris’ ascent to the highest step of the podium. The story is punctuated by the slings and arrows of fortune which at times seemed destined to overwhelm the boy band-likable Norris. Such as internecine spats with teammate Piastri, whose innate politeness failed to disguise his burning desire to win, a team whose (ugh) Papaya Rules created too many own goals and, of course, Max Verstappen, the guy who has parlayed Zak Brown’s “Chucky” nickname into a badge of honor meme.
Red Bull Ring, Styrian Mountains. McLarens to the fore.
This publisher is establishing a reputation for books that are reasonably priced and very well illustrated. Bruce Jones’ excellent F1 Racing: The Ultimate Companion showed how expertly chosen pictures could enhance the text, especially by selecting shots from unusual perspectives. That theme is continued here, with the predictable shots of a beaming Lando here and a curb-jumping McLaren there complemented by arty shots of a deserted Shanghai circuit, a spookily unpeopled Baku (had the secret police arrested everyone?) and a stunning shot of the circuit formerly known as the Österreichring (above).
A deserted Shanghai International circuit.
The bigger-picture book which has yet to be written might focus on how, in Formula One’s ascent to a truly global sport, its traditional fanbase of enthusiasts changed into such a virulently tribal audience. Social media is now engulfed by partisan sparring whenever F1 drivers so much as kiss wheels. I had never realized what a phenomenon Lando Norris had become until I made one of my now infrequent visits to the British Grand Prix. It was nearly two years before he was to win a race but it was already compulsory for every young fan to wear McLaren merchandise, and nearly every orange T shirt and baseball cap featured Norris. But for the yang of Norris’ sunny, K Pop level adulation, there’s the dark and toxic yin of social media taunting and abuse. At first it was Lando No Wins (you could even buy the merch) and, even after the inconvenience of lots of wins and a championship, the taunts continue. Either of the “Oscar was robbed” school or the “Undeserving champion who only won because his dad was rich.” It is as absurd as it is spiteful. Norris won —simple as that—and one thing money can’t buy is talent. We don’t take calls from Messrs Shoulda Woulda Coulda—the boy done good, and this is the story of his finest year. If you want the full story of the 2025 World Championship, then just read Autocourse but, if you only have eyes for Lando, this might be the book for you. It’s not actually compulsory to wear your papaya-colored pajamas while reading it, but it probably helps.
Norris at a cold and wet Las Vegas GP.
- BRDC: British Racing Drivers Club , Silverstone’s owners since Noah was a lad
Copyright John Aston, 2026 (speedreaders.info)
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