Alonso praises 'impressive' Lando Norris

Fernando Alonso has heaped praise on the talents of Lando Norris and described the young driver as 'impressive' during the duo's time together in the Spaniard's first venture into endurance racing at Daytona last week, also hailing the 'amazing teamwork' in United Autosports.

Alonso is one of the most talented drivers on the Formula One circuit and is a former world champion, but over the past year he has continuously expressed his desire to venture into other motorsports disciplines. This includes the pursuit of the motorsport 'triple crown' which is victories at the Monaco Grand Prix, Le Mans 24 Hours, and the Indianapolis 500.

The Spaniard was in Daytona last week to try out endurance racing for the first time, and is clearly impressed with the performance of his team-mate, Norris.

"About my teammates, maybe it's not a surprise [to me], but for the people that don't know Lando, it will be a surprise for them," Alonso said.

"The things he did were very impressive. The teamwork, the preparation, the focus."

"At night if you look, when we switched to wet tires for one stint, we were fifth, one minute behind the leader.

"Then we switched to slick tires again in damp conditions - all this with Lando driving - and we were 27 seconds behind the leaders.

"So even in wet conditions, his first time in a prototype, first time in Daytona, first time with Continental tires, he recovered 33 seconds in 20 laps or something like that.

"He is 18 years old, so that is quite impressive..."

Alonso is part of the United Autosports team and although they ultimately did not compete for the victory, he is proud of the dynamic that was created between he and his team-mates.

"It was amazing teamwork," he admitted.

"First with United Autosports, the package maybe was not as competitive as some other packages out there but we were very fast in the race.

"We were probably easily on the podium, the other car was fighting for the podium and finished P4. That's amazing, what United Autosports can achieve as a team.

"We had too many issues in the race but the mechanics kept focused and they kept motivated all race long. That was a good example of teamwork and dedication."