Another two degrees of Kiwi connectedness with F1 as news drops today that Lando Norris is to step up and replace Stoffel Vandoorne. But Lando’s a Brit you say? Yes he is, and he was also a very popular champion when he contested and won the Toyota Racing Series here in Godzone. The TRS incubator effect – giving rising racers a chance to do a whole lot of competition in a very compressed period during the northern hemisphere off-season – works as well for the internationals as it does for our own drivers.
I remember watching him race here in 2016 and thinking ‘this kid’s a natural’ – from the word go he was in synch with the car, he ‘fit’ in a way his rivals didn’t and he had a way of finessing the car through corners that won trophies and tenths at every circuit.
Remember that the TRS car is a Tatuus chassis but of course has the Toyota 2ZZGE engine, which tops out at an F3-level 215 bhp, and due to the shape of the engine and its ancillary bits has a different aero profile from the standard Tatuus which is in use on every continent in the world. So it was definitely not a case of ‘oh yeah, I remember how these things work’.
Lando’s a cool guy, and if anything is nowhere near arrogant enough for the rare air of F1.
Ineffably polite, it was never a hassle to grab him aside for an interview with Eric at the Herald, or to do some local radio piece down south in Invercargill.
Having watched him in F2 this year (currently second) I have wondered if he’s a bit swamped, but the results speak for themselves. I’m also mindful that F2 is a lot hotter than GP2 was when Mitch Evans and Artem Markelov were team-mates there – in the same year Lando was winning the MSA Formula Championship in the UK.
The following year – get this – Lando won TRS, Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 and Formula Renault 2.0 Northern European Cup in 2016. And in 2017 he topped that with victory in Formula 3 Europe.
More connectedness: Russian Daniil Kvyat, who ran in TRS as a Red Bull Junior with Nelson-based Victory Motor Racing, is now back in contention for a Toro Rosso seat in 2019! This after being dropped by the team in 2016 on what they saw as below par form (yeah, let’s blame the driver for that!).
Daniil was the first TRS graduate to make it all the way to a proper F1 drive, and I reckon he’s got more to show us provided he gets a decent car and engine to do it with. A bit like Brendon Hartley really.
Pierre Gasly’s move to Red Bull Racing and Brendon’s current difficulties in the other TR car mean that Toro Rosso will have at least one vacancy next season.
Facing a lack of qualified candidates in its own junior programme, Red Bull has been considering a number of options – including McLaren’s Lando Norris. So that’s not going to happen then, is it?
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