Lando Norris bids to banish Montreal memories

Lando Norris, Baku, 2022 — Photo: © LAT Images

McLaren

Lando Norris bids to banish Montreal memories

The long wait is over for Lando!

Graham Shaw Consultant Editor

Digital sports specialist running global brands for 30 years

Wednesday 15 June 2022 11:40

Lando Norris is aiming to banish his grim memories of the Canadian Grand Prix</u> when F1 returns to the North American venue this weekend.

Norris has only raced in Canada once after the last two runnings of the Montreal race were cancelled due to the pandemic.

But this 2019 visit holds painful memories for the Briton after a bizarre suspension failure was triggered by excessively high brake temperatures - a fire breaking out as the McLaren driver slowed to a stop.

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Now the 22-year-old British star gets a belated second chance to make amends, on the back of a tough weekend in Baku which netted him ninth place last Sunday.

Norris back to Canada at last

He said: “I’m excited to be heading back to Canada. It will be my second time racing there so it’ll be great to get back on track in front of the Canadian fans.

"The 2019 race certainly didn't end the way I wanted it to, so I'm looking forward to getting back on track and giving it my all. I’ve done my prep on the sim and I feel up for the challenge in these new cars."

Norris currently sits seventh in the championship standings with 50 points, and is eager to improve on that.

“Baku was difficult with the windy conditions, but it was important to get a double points finish for the team.

"We still have some work to do to get further up the grid, but I'm confident we will get there, and we have a great team of people working at track and back at the factory to continually push us forward."

Ricciardo targets Montreal magic

While Norris has miserable memories of the action on track in Montreal, his McLaren team-mate Daniel Ricciardo is exactly the opposite. The Aussie claimed his first grand prix victory there back in 2014.

After a troubled start to 2022 - 13th in the standings with just 15 points so far - Ricciardo is hoping for some more "Canadian magic" to turn his season around.

"All of my favourite races seem to start with M, Melbourne, Monaco, Monza and, obviously, Montreal," he said.

"I’m buzzing to be going back to Canada after a couple of years. Montreal is a great city and there’s always a brilliant atmosphere so I’m looking forward to soaking that all up and using it to keep pushing forward on track - it's always a fun one.

"I got my first win there back in 2014, so hopefully I can use some of that Canadian magic to get some more points for the team this time round."

Ricciardo heads for Montreal with renewed optimism on the back of finishing eighth in Azerbaijan last weekend.

“It was great to get back in the points in Baku after a tough few races. It was a difficult one, but the hard work and determination clearly paid off and I’m going to use this momentum we have going heading into part two of this double header. I’m excited.”