Carlos Sainz believes Lando Norris “doesn’t follow the typical stereotype of world champion” after the McLaren man secured his maiden Formula 1 Drivers’ Championship in the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
Norris became only the 35th driver in the sport’s 75-year history to claim the ultimate prize, with third-place on Sunday at the Yas Marina Circuit enough for the Briton to win the title by just two points.
Sainz was one of the first drivers to congratulate Norris, the pair having formed a strong friendship from their two years together at McLaren in 2019-2020, which were also Norris’ first in F1.
“Very happy for him as a driver because I think he’s always been an extremely quick driver, quicker than I think what people give him credit for and extremely talented since I worked with him at McLaren the first years,” said Sainz post-race to Sky Sports F1 in Abu Dhabi.
“I saw a guy that had the speed to be a multiple world champion if it was purely down to speed. I think along the way he’s developed a lot his skills and now he’s a world champion.
“More than anything, happy for him as a person because I think he’s a driver that doesn’t follow the typical stereotype of world champion.
“I think he’s always stayed very true to himself, very honest, very open about his own struggles and he’s just proven to everyone you can also be world champion being that good guy or that open nice guy, and you don’t need to be ruthless or bad-ass to show to everyone that you can be world champion.”
The Spaniard also acknowledged the struggles Norris faced this term, especially in the early part of the season after several mistakes and in the latter stages as a hard-charging Max Verstappen came close to making it five back-to-back titles.
“I think he must have suffered a bit this year with all the social media pressure, journalism pressure criticising him when he was struggling the first half, now when Max was getting close,” added Sainz.
“Never easy to be world champion with Max breathing down your neck but he’s kept it more or less under control and he’s won it.”
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