By Alan Baldwin
MONACO (Reuters) – Lando Norris said winning Formula One’s Monaco Grand Prix was a dream come true and one he looked forward to retelling for decades to come.
The McLaren driver set up his first victory in the Mediterranean principality by securing pole position on Saturday and then making no mistakes on a sunny Sunday devoid of overtaking.
“This is what I dream of. This is what I did dream of when I was a kid,” he told former winner and 2009 world champion Jenson Button after clambering from the cockpit in front of the cheering crowd.
“So, I achieved one of my dreams. I think it was you — I saw you in front of my car before the start and I was like ‘if JB is here now, then I’ll always take that. It’s my good luck charm’.”
Echoing Button’s 2009 exclamation of joy, Norris shouted ‘Monaco, baby. Yeah, baby’ over the team radio on taking the chequered flag.
Unlike Button that year, he parked his car in the correct spot and did not have to then run down the pit straight to collect his trophy.
Asked later about the view from one of the sport’s most famed podiums, Norris joked: “Well, all I saw was camera lenses. So, I can dream of better.”
More seriously, he said it was the feelings inside that mattered — seeing the chequered flag and then the celebrating team, and his parents looking up.
“There are many things that I think everyone dreams of — it’s getting to Formula One, winning a race in Formula One, and winning a race in Monaco. And we achieved it today,” he said.
“I think the best bit is that my (future) kids one day will be able to tell everyone that I won in Monaco. That’s probably the thing I’m most proud about.
“It’s definitely just the saying more than anything but also the meaning, the history, the people that have won here in the past. They don’t always go on to be champions but most of them have.
“And just to know in 30 years’ time, I can say ‘I mastered Monaco that one year’ — or hopefully a few more — but that one year is something I look forward to saying.”
The win was McLaren’s first success in Monaco since Lewis Hamilton in 2008, the year of the first of seven titles won by the Briton.
It left Norris a mere three points behind Australian team mate Oscar Piastri after eight of 24 races and with the momentum building.
“I think yesterday gave me confidence,” he said of securing the crucial pole position at a circuit where races are often processional.
“I’ve not needed the confidence on Sundays but yesterday was a bigger day for me. I was more proud of yesterday than I almost was of today.”
(Reporting by Alan Baldwin, editing by Clare Fallon)
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