Oliver Norris on the brotherhood behind McLaren star Lando’s F1 world championship

Oliver and Lando Norris have combined to enjoy success on track – a far cry from when the pair were once separated as teen racing stars.

The former was the first family member to battle Max Verstappen, and then had the ‘surreal’ experience of watching his younger brother pip the Dutchman to the Formula 1 world championship.

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In December, McLaren’s Lando beat the Red Bull driver to clinch his maiden title after a season that pushed him to his limits.

Just four months earlier, the 26-year-old looked out of contention after retiring from second at Verstappen’s home Dutch Grand Prix.

It was a result that left the Bristolian with his head in his hands in Zandvoort and, crucially, 34 points adrift of teammate Oscar Piastri.

However, much of what unfolded on track thereafter hasn’t taken into account the untold story which happened off of it.

Lando got to work training on Cool Performance simulators, co-founded by Oliver, as was the case for most of the 2025 season.

“For sure, Zandvoort was a tough one,” the elder Norris told talkSPORT.com during an exclusive interview earlier this month. “Seeing him break down there was a tough one.

“But to counter that, I think Lando probably had more hope and more sort of courage than anyone, probably, even in those moments.

“We’ve done a lot of sim work with Lando all through the year, and he was more eager to keep training and pushing on than at any other time during the year.

“That also shows just his own mental strength and determination to go, ‘I’m going to double down, and I’m still in for it.’

“A lot of people ruled him out, but I think his own mental strength and his own sort of attitude to, ‘No, I can still do this, I’m the one to do it’, came through. So it was pretty impressive.”

The dream of becoming Britain’s 11th F1 World Champion was one once shared by both Norris brothers during their karting days.

The siblings didn’t have a motorsport background and had their grandad as their mechanic during their first stint behind the wheel.

Fuelled by a racing enthusiast father, Adam, who made a multimillionaire fortune as a pensions trader, Oliver and Lando’s instant promise saw them swap school in Somerset for the track.

“We were very lucky to be doing it,” Oliver added to talkSPORT. “I think it stemmed from my dad, who couldn’t do it when he was young. He gave us that opportunity to go karting.

“You never know where the journey starts off. It would be a nice idea to end up in Formula 1 or become a professional race driver.

“But you never really know. You just start off going to the local kart track, do a few laps and enjoy it.”

Despite the three-year age gap, the Norris duo started their junior racing together before competing in different series.

“I think it was probably a good thing at the time. That’s the only thing we cared about and probably had a couple of early collisions being young, but we went two different routes, and it worked out pretty well.

“We both then diverged, and we both raced against each other in later years. So it was a healthy competition that helped to push each other quite a lot very early on when we were young.”

That was evident following the 2008 Comer Cadet season, in which only six points separated the two Norris’ in 35th and 36th.

The following year, the gap between the two in 14th and 15th had come down to five points, while George Russell came runner-up.

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Oliver got the better of the Mercedes man in the Trent Valley Kart Club Junior Rotax 2011.

But both Brits were powerless to prevent Verstappen winning the KF series of the FIA Karting European Championship in 2013, the same year Lando topped the KF-J standings.

“We also had Charles [Leclerc],” Oliver recalled. “There was also Alex [Albon], who was on the grid as well.

“And a few other great drivers who didn’t make it down the F1 route, who went through all the categories.

“So you look back at it now, you think it was a hard grid back then. And they’re at the top of the sport now.”

All those drivers began karting at a younger age than Oliver, which ultimately caught up with him upon the switch to single-seaters.

That obviously included Lando, who was just 14 years old when he was crowned CIK-FIA World KF Champion – the youngest karting world champion in that category.

“I moved up because I had to, because of my age. Whereas Lando was moving up because he’d already won the championship, not because of his age. And if you’re winning, you’re probably pretty good.”

In an attitude emblematic of his childhood hero, Kimi Räikkönen, the older Norris kept a cool head to assess the situation around him.

“I had Lando as well, who was super quick and younger than me,” he continued. “So I also thought, my chances for F1 likely are not. And I think I took it upon myself, thinking it’s either F1 or no racing for me.

“It was my own natural decision to go, it’s not right. I’m not going to achieve that. So I looked for another avenue in motorsport.”

That alternate proved to be setting up Cool Performance, which aims to redefine the world of sim racing.

And the company’s CEO revealed he had no qualms about remaining in the motorsport world as his sibling continued to grow in profile.

“I think a lot of people who aren’t in motorsport know Lando, so it’s a thing that will naturally follow you,” Oliver said.

“You might get annoyed about how it comes across as being called the brother of this or the brother of that.

“But at the end of the day, it’s naturally going to help me through a lot of my life, a lot of things we do.”

Those feelings were reciprocated in December, when Lando threw a party to thank everyone who helped him become world champion.

One of those people was, of course, Oliver, who said of that night in Abu Dhabi: “It was special. It was a bit surreal. And I guess it was sort of probably more surreal, but we were all there.

“The whole family were there partying and enjoying that moment for him. And that was a good and heavy few hours of partying.

“But that almost felt very real, and everyone having the whole team and waking up the next day, they almost felt a bit like, can’t believe he’s done it.

“Still now it’s a bit of a weird sensation to say and feel that he’s world champion, going up as one of the greats to do it.

“An awesome day, an awesome sort of lead-up to it. And he couldn’t have left it till any later, but if you do it, you do it.”

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Lando memorably said of his lifetime ambition, ‘I just won it my way,’ and thankfully, the aura of being champion hasn’t changed that.

“No, I think he’s always been very good at being himself, Oliver said of any difference in his younger brother since claiming the title.

“He’s always very real to the camera and real to everyone else, who he is and how he comes across. And I don’t think that will ever change.”