As Lando Norris gets ready to take a swing at Formula 1, the youngster says it “would be nice” to give a driver selection headache to McLaren for 2019.
Norris is the official reserve driver for the Woking outfit for the current season while he continues to race in F2.
The British driver is following a familiar path to F1 by winning all the feeder series in his first attempts which would take him out of action for F2 next year.
McLaren’s current driver Vandoorne drove in GP2 (Super Formula) after his F2 win for a little over a year. Toro Rosso driver Pierre Gasly also followed a similar path after winning his F2 title in 2016.
When asked if his wins might give McLaren a headache over their next season’s line-up, the Brit said: “Obviously a headache would be nice!
“It’s good for me and it means at least they are thinking about what position I could be in. But I think they are very happy with Fernando and Stoffel at the moment.
“The team is in a position now where there’s a lot of development going on and having a slightly more experienced driver is a help. The rate of development is slightly faster than if I jumped in.
“Every year I’ve taken a step up into the next category.
“It could be the first year I don’t get this opportunity to step up but I don’t think this is something I need to be thinking about right now.”
McLaren has been giving Norris drive time since last year. In 2017, Norris drove during the summer testing at Hungary and then again during the post-season testing at Abu Dhabi.
He is scheduled to take part in most of the Pirelli testing this year to familiarise himself with the MCL33.
“I haven’t been told the exact day I’ll be in the car,” he said. “Hopefully one of the young driver tests or Pirelli tests.
“If anything happened to Fernando or Stoffel, I’d have a bit more understanding about the car and more confident jumping in and doing a good job.”
The British driver is one of the most sought-after drivers outside F1 and holds a nine-point lead in the driver’s standing in F2 ahead of the Baku race weekend.
The McLaren prodigy won his debut race at Bahrain, creating a record of winning the first race in every single seater series he has taken part in.
Despite the wins, the 18-year-old says he doesn’t think too much about expectations that surround him.
“I don’t think of things like that,” he said. “I want to do everyone proud, the team and everyone who supports me, but it’s not something I put myself under pressure because of.”
