Lando Norris reveals Lewis Hamilton F1 inspiration

Lando Norris has defended the track record of F1 legend Lewis Hamilton following his early struggles at Ferrari, citing him as the reason for his love for the sport.

Hamilton has made a disappointing start to life at Ferrari, with the seven-time champion not yet achieving a main race podium after nine race weekends with the Scuderia.

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The 40-year-old has also only outqualified team-mate Charles Leclerc on two occasions, and is currently sat down in sixth in the drivers' championship, 23 points behind Leclerc.

The seven-time world champion described his recent performance as ‘terrible’ after the Spanish Grand Prix, and delivered yet another dejected post-race interview as his McLaren rivals secured another one-two.

Despite their rivalry, Hamilton still has support from the McLaren duo of Norris and Oscar Piastri, who opened up on how much they admire the champion in a conversation shared to the team’s website.

"When I started watching Formula 1, I was supporting Lewis Hamilton," Norris said.

"Lewis was the guy at McLaren, and he was kind of a reason why I got into Formula 1 in the first place."

Piastri concurred with Norris, and claimed he was up there when talking about the greats of F1, as the pair put aside their sporting rivalry to praise Hamilton.

Hamilton bolstered by McLaren F1 stars

Hamilton is not only the most successful F1 driver in history, but he is also a role model outside of the sport due to his campaigning for social change.

The champion’s charitable foundation Mission 44 recently released a set of recommendations to the UK government over educational inclusion and reform, after concerning levels of exclusions and suspensions had been reported.

Hamilton even met with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer recently, where the F1 legend revealed his own personal experiences in education and stated that school had ‘failed’ him.

Norris continued to bolster Hamilton’s abilities, and also acknowledged that Hamilton’s off-track work was just as impressive as his record-breaking F1 success.

"Seven world championships, over 100 wins - if I get anywhere close to that in my racing career, then I'll be pretty happy," Norris continued.

"It’s not only that, but also what he's done away from the track. It's not easy to accomplish so much away from the track and remain focused on racing. I think he’s set a pretty good standard for what an F1 driver can do."

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