“Being antisocial is my jam” – Norris happy to spend two-month lockdown alone

Lando Norris says he’s happy to stay on his own throughout Britain’s pandemic lockdown, which has now lasted almost two months.

The McLaren driver, who has gained a large social media following in recent weeks by streaming his simracing and gaming on Twitch, told the In The Pink podcast the lockdown has made little difference to his personal life.

“I just enjoy spending time alone and doing things that I love to do,” he said. “So if I was at home, say, I would still spend the whole day in my room painting or designing or something like that.

“It’s not the fact that I’m away from everyone else, it’s the fact of just being alone and listening to my music and doing things I enjoy whether it’s designing or playing on my simulator or chatting with my friends or something.

“As long as I still get to do the things that I love to do and like to do then I’m happy so it doesn’t really matter where I am in the world. If I still get to do those things, then I’m still happy with what’s going on.”

Asked whether he finds it easy to get on well with other people, Norris said “quite the opposite”.

“Obviously I have laughs and stuff. It does come across that way on TV, not because it’s not something I am because when it’s me and Carlos [Sainz Jnr] joking about and having laughs, that I love doing as well.

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“But then I hate the crowds – not the crowds, I love the fans and everything of course – but I hate big groups of people. My worst nightmare is dinners and having to sit next to someone and getting forced to speak to them. I really don’t want to speak to anyone. That’s what I just don’t like.

“But everyone’s different, some people love being social whereas I just love being antisocial. It’s my jam.”

Speaking ahead of the announcement that Sainz will leave McLaren next year, Norris said he’ll miss the camaraderie between them. “I hope that we still get to have some races this year at least.”

“We’ve got along really well and had a lot of good laughs and it’s made it very enjoyable for both sides, for him and also for me,” he added. “It makes it quite a nice environment to work in at the same time between both of us, we come in and we help each other, but we’re still competitive and want to beat each other, everyone knows that. I’m going to miss that.”

Sainz’s place at the team will be taken by Daniel Ricciardo. “He’s a really funny guy and we’ve had a lot of good laughs,” said Norris.

“We don’t speak all of the time but in the few times that we’ve spent time together in press conferences and track parades and stuff like that we’ve had some really funny moments together.”

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