Norris: Alonso could win the title this year

One of the highlights of the Bahraini weekend was of course Fernando Alonso’s podium – the 99th in the career of the Spanish driver, who has been playing for Aston Martin since this year.

Anyone who has watched the Bahrain Grand Prix agrees that it was no coincidence that the two-time world champion finished third: the car enabled him to fight on an equal footing with the Mercedes and Ferrari pilots, ahead of them to stay on track – these fights became the decoration of the first leg of the season.

Of course, the rivals understand that Alonso’s skills and AMR23’s abilities will manifest themselves more than once this season, and Lando Norris generally said that Fernando can even compete for the title this year.

The British McLaren driver is known for his activity on Twitch and spoke to fans on this platform for almost two hours last weekend, including on Formula 1 topics.

Norris and Alonso have known each other since 2018: the Spaniard then spent his last season at McLaren, and Lando worked with the team as a reserve driver and often worked in training. But in January of that year, they performed together at the 24 Hours of Daytona, where they were partners and drove a United Autosports LMP2 class car, Zach Brown’s team.

They have a good relationship, so once, in 2021, Lando and Fernando exchanged helmets, and since then Norris’s helmet has been on display at the Alonso Museum in Oviedo. And the Brit showed Fernando’s helmet to everyone during the said conversation with the fans, accompanied by the following comment:

“This year Alonso can be champion, you know? Can you imagine?..”

Norris also demonstrated Sebastian Vettel’s helmet, which he wore last year at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, which was the last race of the four-time Formula 1 world champion. By the way, on the helmet he wrote this: “Lando – I hope you remember our first meeting.”

As confirmation that he remembers everything, Norris showed an old photo of him, then a very young kart driver, talking to Vettel in the paddock.

He also showed his friend Carlos Sainz’s helmet, gleefully reading the inscription left by the Spanish Ferrari driver: “To my little friend.”

In addition, Lando showed off some of his helmets, noting that he personally likes the helmet designed in the style of a basketball the most – his McLaren racer prepared it for the Miami Grand Prix last spring.

When asked if he could win the upcoming Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, Norris just laughed and said, with accentuated irony, “Probably!”

At this part of the dialogue with the fans, dedicated to Formula 1, ended, after which Lando moved on to other topics: golf, computer games and music.