Lando Norris admits he “would love” the opportunity to race against Lewis Hamilton at the same team.
Both drivers took a similar path to F1 through the McLaren young driver program, with Lando, who turns 21 on Friday, currently in his second season at the Woking-based team.
Norris though hasn’t been interested in comparisons with Hamilton and was non-committal when asked if he could beat his fellow Briton in equal machinery.
“It’s something I can’t answer until it happens,” he was quoted as telling Brazil’s UOL.
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“I’m sure every driver on the grid wants to do the same thing because everyone knows Lewis is probably one of the best drivers of all time in F1.
“And everyone is jealous of his position, winning all these races. It’s the position everyone wants to be in.
“But it’s not something that can be answered. I’m sure some will say ‘me, of course’. But I’m not that kind of over-confident guy. One day, maybe, we’ll find out. I would love for that to happen.”
Norris recently landed himself in a little hot water, when he downplayed Hamilton’s achievement of surpassing Michael Schumacher for the most wins in F1 history by suggesting he only has to beat “one or two drivers” to win each race.
Later he would apologise directly to the seven-time world champion in-waiting, and explained his comments.
“I feel like I try to be a nice person and do the right things,” he said.
“Just because I talked on TV, people make comments and pretend they are superheroes who would never say something like that and we know that’s a lie.
“People always think we are heroes in F1 and maybe some are. But I’m just a normal guy who gets mad when someone ruins my race and gets angry when people make comments that you wouldn’t want them to do.
“Sunday at the Portuguese GP was one of those days, when I was reading the comments. When I spoke, my idea wasn’t to be negative, I didn’t want to hurt anyone. It was my opinion.
“Sometimes when you speak, you don’t think how people will interpret it. It wasn’t my intention. I’m a nice guy – I try to be a nice guy – and don’t want to direct hatred towards anyone. I may be angry with someone but I wish nothing bad for anyone.”