Welcome to Split Second, where we ask racers to recall a split-second moment burned into their brains – the perfect passport, the slow-motion movie of their worst accident, the near-miss that terrified them, or anything other – and what gives the memory stamina. In this issue we saw Lando Norris speak to him.
Five seconds. If Lando Norris wanted to achieve his first podium in Formula 1, that was the magic number he had to pursue in the final laps of the 2020 Austrian Grand Prix.
But it wasn’t going to be easy.
“I remember everything from the last lap and a half,” Norris told Road & Track. “Every few turns my engineer told me on the radio what I could do with my engine, what I could do with the car, to unlock more potential and make it faster.
“That was a chance on the podium. I just knew that I had to push as much as possible if I had the opportunity. “
JOE CLAMAR
This opportunity arose at the Formula 1 season opener in 2020, which was anything but normal. It was July in Austria – not March in Australia as planned – and everyone in the garage wore a mix of face masks and shields to protect themselves from a virus the world had to learn to live with. There weren’t any fans in the stands.
The legendary Monaco Grand Prix, which would have taken place more than a month earlier in May, has been canceled for the first time in more than 60 years. F1 put together a provisional schedule after the COVID-19 pandemic brought a hand mixer to its original plans, and that schedule started at the Red Bull Ring for a chaotic Austrian Grand Prix. Nine of the 20 drivers didn’t even make it to the finish line.
Norris, the youngest driver in the field at the age of 20, started his second season with the McLaren F1 Team – and finished fifth towards the end of the race. Before him, Mercedes driver Valtteri Bottas led his team-mate Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Racing Points Sergio Pérez.
JOE CLAMAR
But there was a catch. On lap 66 of 71, the race stewards had given Hamilton a time penalty for a collision, which meant that any car that crossed the finish line less than five seconds behind him would be ahead in the final result.
With three laps to go, Norris passed Perez in fourth in the running order. The podium was no longer a hope, but a real possibility.
“Suddenly I have clean air,” says Norris. “I was on my own. I didn’t know if I would catch him [Hamilton]if not, or what would happen. I had to do the best one and a half laps of my life to give myself this chance. “
Race engineer Will Joseph was the voice in Norris’ ear during these final laps, providing updates on track conditions and giving Norris coded commands: “Yellow G-2”. “Stay in scenario seven until lap 3.” “Follow the obstacle, curve 1.”
But the main message came in plain English.
“Hamilton is 6.5 [seconds] ahead, ”said Joseph to Norris about a lap and a half before the finish line. “He also has a five-second penalty.”
JOE CLAMAR
Norris tells Road & Track that the coded messages talked him through a number of things: “different engine modes, different things to change the vehicle balance to make it a little riskier but faster.”
But Norris wasn’t worried about the risk. It was podium or broke.
“There was nothing to lose,” says Norris. “You never don’t rush [that hard] unless you might lead the championship. Then you have to be a bit safer. ”
As Norris rounded the last corner of the Red Bull Ring to begin his final lap, Joseph continued to give quiet commands over an otherwise quiet radio. Only a few corners before the end came one last message: “Give it your all.”
Hamilton was a point ahead of Norris – a goal he had to pursue but could barely see. When Norris crossed the finish line a lap later, he had no idea whether he had made up enough time.
All was quiet on Norris’ radio when his team confirmed the final intervals, but on TV his name was gleamed with the signature purple stopwatch from the race broadcast. Norris tried so hard to overtake Hamilton in the end that he had set the fastest lap of the race.
“When I crossed the finish line, I didn’t know whether I was on the podium or not,” Norris told Road & Track. “For about five or six seconds – or actually more like 10 seconds -[Joseph] said nothing. So I crossed the finish line, went all the way around Turn 1 and didn’t know.
“What made it worse was the excitement of walking across the line and waiting for something. Was i around I could obviously see that I got caught [Hamilton], but I didn’t know if it was enough. “
When Norris slowed through Turn 1, his radio came on again.
“Lando, the gap to Hamilton was 4.8, 4.8,” said Joseph. “I think that’s a podium, buddy. I think that’s a podium. “
MARK THOMPSON
“Damn it, boy! Damn it! ”Norris screamed and threw a fist in the air. “Well, I don’t know. I don’t want to party too much yet, but … “
“Exactly. Let’s wait for it to be confirmed. But yeah, buddy. What a drive. What a race.”
“I’m so out of breath.”
“Buddy, aren’t we all?”
“If we get this guys, thank you very much.”
Norris didn’t have to say “if” much longer. In the final standings, Bottas’ winning car led second-placed Leclerc with 2.7 seconds, Norris with 5.491 and Hamilton with 5.689 seconds after the penalty. Only 0.198 seconds separated the two in the battle for third place.
It was close, but just about counted.
When Joseph gave him the news, Norris told Road & Track that he “could hear the whole team going nuts in the background.” There was a good reason for that: your driver not only had McLaren’s second podium finish in five years, but was also the third youngest Formula 1 driver to get there. McLaren has been on the rise since then: Norris took four podium places in 2021 alone.
MARK THOMPSON
Norris had no words for how he felt in the moments after his podium at the Austrian Grand Prix (“I can’t describe things that well,” he says), but words weren’t necessary. His reactions on the radio said it all – as did his insistence not to miss the opportunity.
“I didn’t perfect one small mistake or thing and I wouldn’t have made it,” says Norris. “I wouldn’t have got on the podium. But I had nothing to lose in this situation, so I just did what everyone is doing: they just push as much as they can.
“Of course it was worth it.”
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