Norris reveals awkward encounter with Helmut Marko before F1 days!
- Nicolás Quarles van Ufford
McLaren driver Lando Norris has revealed an exchange he had with Aston Martin Red Bull Racing's Helmut Marko long before he was in Formula 1, back in 2015 when he was driving in Formula Renault.
The young Brit had just put his car on pole position in Monaco in Formula Renault back in 2015, although he later got disqualified for "having something illegal on the car", in his own words.
Norris never got signed up to the Red Bull youth program, and maybe that was because of the exchange he had during that weekend with Marko, who is mainly responsible for snapping up young talents.
"He just wanted to know a little bit about me, I guess," the 20-year-old remembered on the latest edition of the F1: Beyond the Grid podcast.
"He asked me a few questions; 'How much does a Formula Renault car weigh?' I had no idea! I had to come up with something, didn't I! I had to come up with... I don't know, 400 kilos. 426, something like that. I think I actually ended up saying 'I don't really know'."
Unimpressed, Marko replied comparing Norris to Red Bull's star driver which had just come into F1 at that point; Max Verstappen.
"The next thing he said was - I don't know if I should say it! - 'well, Max would know. Max knows everything about the car.'
"I didn't know what to say after that. I was speechless."