Lando Norris: England's F1 prince charming with a ruthless streak

ABU DHABI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES - A steely will to win behind his ready charm and easy-going persona helped Lando Norris depose Max Verstappen as king of Formula One in Abu Dhabi on Sunday.

It was a tense drive with Verstappen dictating the race from the front, Norris' teammate and title rival Oscar Piastri overtaking him on the first lap and Ferrari's Charles Leclerc yapping at the Briton's heels as he sweated to the third place finish he needed.

The young British driver's maiden world drivers' championship, which came after a nail-biting season-long battle with Verstappen and Piastri, lands only six years after he joined the F1 fray as a teenager.

McLaren had him on their books for two years before fast-tracking him into the big time following a runner-up finish to George Russell in the 2018 Formula Two feeder championship

Paired with Carlos Sainz he narrowly missed out on a top 10 finish in his impressive rookie campaign, notably edging his more experienced teammate in their head-to-head qualifying battle.

He made his first podium appearance in 2020 and narrowly missed out on a maiden win in Russia in 2021 when he dominated another more senior teammate Daniel Ricciardo.

His breakthrough win arrived last year in Miami - three more were to follow - as he emerged as Verstappen's biggest challenger and led McLaren to their first constructor's title since 1998.

Norris's ascent to the F1 throne is no surprise to the man who first spotted his talent as a kid racing go-carts at the Clay Pigeon Raceway in Dorchester, south-west England - a world away from the glitz of Monaco where Norris nailed a record pole lap to win on the streets of the Principality in May.

"It’s mad, innit," Rob Dodds told The Guardian newspaper on Saturday.

"It was obvious the kid had something. That was when I first noticed him," Dodds told the paper after watching the youngster post lap times far quicker than boys much older than him.

"Parents usually wait until the kids are about 10 or 11 to do national championships. We had Lando doing them from eight years old."

Norris was born to an English father, Adam, and a Belgian mother, Cisca, on November 13, 1999, just days after Mika Hakkinen defended his world title in a McLaren at Suzuka.

AVID GAMER AND GOLFER

The British marque would have to wait until 2008 and Lewis Hamilton for their next title - before a long and frustrating slump which only ended on Sunday.

But the good times are back at the Bahrain-supported outfit - two successive constructors' titles and now Norris delivering their 13th world drivers' championship and Britain's first since Hamilton in 2020.

An avid gamer and golfer whose go-to song before racing is 'Don't Let Me Go' by American rapper MGK, has been front and centre of F1's remarkable rise in popularity since Liberty Media took over in 2017 and the huge following it has gained from Netflix's 'Drive To Survive'.

His biggest fan is his girlfriend, Portuguese actor Margarida Corceiro, who has an Instagram following of over two million and who freely confessed this month: "I don't know anything about cars. I’m not useful for anything other than supporting someone."

Norris told Vogue in September: "She’s someone I can very much be myself with. Very down to earth and she lives quite a crazy life as well.

"It’s nice when we can both just (rent) a boat for the day or go home together and chill.”

A fan of English second tier football club Bristol City he identifies a legend from two-wheel motorsport as one of his driving forces - seven-time MotoGP champion Valentino Rossi.

"MotoGP was my first passion before F1. Valentino Rossi was always my idol, he's the best and has always inspired me," said Norris, who chose 4, the first digit of Rossi's iconic 46, as his racing number.

Like the great Italian, Norris has a touch of stardust about him. In the words of Dodds, who first spotted it all those years ago on the go-kart track: "It’s mad, innit."