Former Ferrari engineer Rob Smedley jumps to the defense of Lando Norris. According to the Brit, his compatriot has an ‘undeserved reputation’ in the paddock because Norris was able to count on enough financial support during his junior career. “People inside Formula 1 who know what Lando delivers week in, week out, have nothing but praise for him,” said Smedley.
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Lando Norris has secured his first win as world champion. The Brit crossed the finish line first during the recent Grand Prix in Hungary, after an impressive overtaking race at Spa-Francorchamps. According to Rob Smedley – former engineer at Ferrari – Norris still unfairly has a bit of a bad reputation in the paddock.
“If you walk through the paddock and talk to people, you get the feeling he has a bit of a bad name,” Smedley said on the High Performance Racing podcast. “It’s always like: ‘Oh, Lando had such a great junior career and therefore…’ And that’s true. Great in the sense that his junior career was very well financially supported. I think he had everything. But now he has arrived here and he still has to perform.”
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Smedley was especially dismissive of the suggestion that financial support somehow diminishes Norris’s performance. “There are plenty of drivers who had more money spent on their junior careers than Lando Norris and who have not been able to perform in Formula 1,” he continued. “I think people inside the sport who know how tough this sport really is and know what Lando Norris delivers week in, week out, have nothing but praise for him.”
‘Enormous mental resilience’
According to the former engineer, the McLaren driver is also a lot ‘tougher’ behind the scenes than he shows in the media. “He has enormous mental resilience, and we saw that last year. He is incredibly tough,” Smedley praises the world champion. “So whatever his upbringing looked like, whatever Adam (Norris, ed.), his father, has done for him and all the rest, forget all that. That boy is the real deal. He is incredibly resilient.”
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