Carlos Sainz believes Lando Norris “would not comply with the standard stereotype of world champion” after the McLaren man secured his maiden System 1 Drivers’ Championship within the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
Norris grew to become solely the thirty fifth driver within the sport’s 75-year historical past to assert the final word prize, with third-place on Sunday at the Yas Marina Circuit enough for the Briton to win the title by simply two factors.
Sainz was one of many first drivers to congratulate Norris, the pair having fashioned a powerful friendship from their two years collectively at McLaren in 2019-2020, which had been additionally Norris’ first in F1.
“Very comfortable for him as a driver as a result of I believe he is all the time been a particularly fast driver, faster than I believe what folks give him credit score for and intensely proficient since I labored with him at McLaren the primary years,” mentioned Sainz post-race to Sky Sports activities F1 in Abu Dhabi.
“I noticed a man that had the velocity to be a a number of world champion if it was purely down to hurry. I believe alongside the best way he is developed rather a lot his abilities and now he is a world champion.
“Greater than something, comfortable for him as an individual as a result of I believe he is a driver that does not comply with the standard stereotype of world champion.
“I believe he is all the time stayed very true to himself, very sincere, very open about his personal struggles and he is simply confirmed to everybody it’s also possible to be world champion being that good man or that open good man, and you do not must be ruthless or bad-ass to point out to everybody which you could be world champion.”
The Spaniard additionally acknowledged the struggles Norris confronted this time period, particularly within the early a part of the season after a number of errors and within the latter phases as a hard-charging Max Verstappen got here shut to creating it 5 back-to-back titles.
“I believe he should have suffered a bit this 12 months with all of the social media stress, journalism stress criticising him when he was struggling the primary half, now when Max was getting shut,” added Sainz.
“By no means straightforward to be world champion with Max respiratory down your neck however he is saved it roughly underneath management and he is received it.”
