After clinching his maiden F1 title, Lando Norris has been offered a hard-to-refuse chance outside of Formula One. Guenther Steiner. Photo: RacePictures.
Norris, despite being a consumated F1 champion, saw the beginning of his motorsport career rooted in bike racing. "You know what, I would love to do motorbike stuff. That's actually where I started," Norris said at the Esports World Cup in Riyadh.
"So I did horse riding - I hated that. Quad biking - my dad sold it, he said it got stolen, he just sold it because it was too dangerous for me. Then I went to motocross.
"So I love dirt motorsport - motorbikes, motocross, quad bikes, I loved all of that before I ever watched Formula 1, before I ever saw road racing, or anything.
"For me, buggies and desert stuff, I was like 'this is the coolest stuff in the world.' So that's actually what I wanted to do before everything. Motorbikes was where a lot of my love started, my hero was Valentino Rossi."
Steiner offers Norris 'papaya' MotoGP test
Having led a consortium buyout of the Red Bull KTM Tech3
MotoGP team, Steiner will lead the motorbike team's operations, and appearing on the Red Flags podcast he offered Norris a chance to emulate the Briton's hero.
"He is welcome to ride our bike next year," Steiner said.
It has the same colour [as the McLaren], papaya… OK, it’s orange, but they are very similar. "He can come and ride it; we will find a way to arrange it. It would be something nice for him, although I don’t know if
Zak Brown would be happy to see him ride a MotoGP bike," Steiner concluded.
Hill chooses Verstappen over Norris
Damon Hill, once a critic of Max Verstappen, now praises him as a driver who excels under pressure, comparing his focus and relentlessness to Michael Schumacher.
Hill highlighted Verstappen’s late-season surge, cutting a 104-point deficit to two with an Abu Dhabi win, and argued that championships don’t always reflect the best driver, suggesting Verstappen was the standout of the season despite Lando Norris winning the title.
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