Norris: At Silverstone I take long route back to hotel just to see my fans

How do you imagine something you have worked your entire career for, something so special you are not even sure what it will feel like? That is a thought that has occupied the mind of Lando Norris in the lead up to this British Grand Prix.
For years the hopes of a home victory have been largely in the capable hands of Lewis Hamilton. This year could be the first of a new era, and having experienced a taste of success in Miami, his maiden win, Norris is well in contention for a second on Sunday.
“Once I had experienced Miami you feel on top of the world for a short while,” Norris said, almost wistfully. “That, at Silverstone, it’s hard to imagine … the feeling, it is so cool, so special, it’s hard to actually picture it. You don’t get that feeling doing anything else in life.”
Last year, driving through Luffield Norris could not help but look up at the crowd, cheering for him, before quickly turning his attention back to the track. On the podium, after finishing second, he heard the thousands of fans chanting his name.
It is easy to block out the noise in Formula 1, sitting inside your car with the roar of the engine and the visor down. Norris makes sure he soaks in every second.
“I stay in the hotel at the track and it’s easy just to walk over the bridge but I am happy to drive round because I get that feeling of everyone,” he said. “Seeing people in my shirts, my hats, the [fluorescent] yellow. That just excites me in the morning, these guys are here to support me and cheer me on. That’s why I drive round the road back to the paddock when I could literally walk.”
That level of adulation is something Norris is still learning to adapt to. By his own admission, he was a “loner” as a child, and his platform has exponentially grown in recent months. On Instagram he has 8.7 million followers and is one of the most popular drivers on the grid.
“I find it a weird concept, of me just being a normal person who drives a car quickly and people cheer me on for that,” he said. “I grew up in the middle of nowhere, Glastonbury. I wasn’t around a city or a town. I was a loner so I was happy to go and play on my sim all day. I chose that route.”
He has a small circle of close friends, many of whom he grew up with. They protect him from the temptations that lurk within Formula 1, where ego and arrogance is prevalent.
“That’s what I have my friends for, and the people around me. I’m very happy when they tell me I’m being an absolute knob! [They tell me], all the time! They don’t say that a lot, very rarely. They give me a sense of normality, the tranquillity of life. It’s quite a lonely life. I’m not complaining. In F1 you don’t know who to trust, it’s a very different lifestyle.
“I have a good group protecting me from the bad side and just more evil side of the [F1] world.”
Increasingly, when contemplating whether to go out for dinner or a nightclub or to have a night in, Norris chooses the option that requires the least upheaval.
“When I wake up in the morning and I see all these videos of whatever and people assuming that because someone has come to ask for a picture, as soon as there is any girl that takes a picture…everyone thinks I am with another girl.
“I wake up and its annoying that everyone has these perceptions which are not correct and starts assuming things and creating things. Then I think, ‘Is it even worth going out now?’ I just want to stay at home because I don’t want to deal with all these things going on.”
On track, the adjustment from celebrating wildly for a podium to being a race winner and genuine title contender is also taking some getting used to. His collision with Max Verstappen last week highlighted just how much is at stake when battling for victories and the swing of emotions from high to low.
“I was tenth a few years ago, when we had a podium it felt like a win but now you know what a real win feels like, you’re like, meh [to] third and second,” he said.
“When you experience these highs, what once were highs become closer to being a low. I don’t think it’s great, that’s a dangerous way to live, you have to try keep a lot of those things that were once highs as still very good moments. If you only live off these highs it makes everything else feel boring relatively, dull relative to what this greatness is.”
This weekend he will try to chase that feeling again. It appears only a matter of time before he experiences his Silverstone high.