Carlos Sainz: Lando Norris proves you can be the "nice guy" and F1 champion

Carlos Sainz paid heartfelt tribute to former McLaren team-mate Lando Norris

Carlos Sainz congratulated his former McLaren team-mate Lando Norris for claiming his first drivers' championship title.

The Spanish driver partnered Norris at McLaren when they both joined the team together in 2019 before Sainz moved to Ferrari in 2021. The driver duo quickly became a fan favourite, assuming the title "Carlando".

The Williams driver made a point of making his way onto the grid following the race to congratulate his former team-mate and friend.

"Yeah, honestly, very happy for him. I think he's a great F1 driver. I think unbelievably fast," Sainz told the media after the race.

"But with his particular way of going about life and things, as much as he's got criticised a lot during the last few years for being how he is, he's world champion and everyone can keep dreaming about being F1 world champion while he goes about his own way and does things his own way.

"So I'm extremely happy for him because he must have felt a lot of pressure over the last few weekends and he managed to pull it off."

Sainz explained he saw how "extremely quick" Norris was when he joined him at the Woking outfit.

Lando Norris, McLaren

Photo by: Kym Illman / Getty Images

"Very happy for him as a driver because he's always been an extremely quick driver, quicker than what people give him credit for, extremely talented," he told Sky Sports F1.

"The first years at McLaren, I saw a guy who had the speed to be multiple world champion if it was purely down to speed.

"Along the way, he's developed his skills a lot and now he's a world champion.

"More than anything, I'm happy for him as a person because he's a driver that doesn't follow the typical stereotypes of a world champion. He's always stayed true to himself, very honest, very open about his own struggles, and proven to everyone you can be world champion being a nice guy, that you don't have to be ruthless or badass.

"Happy for him. I hope he stays the same, that it doesn't get in his head that he's world champion and he keeps being himself, or even if he relaxes more, and can enjoy F1 more.

"He must have suffered a bit this year with all the social media pressure, journalism pressure from criticising him when he was struggling in the first half, then when Max was getting close. It's never easy to be world champion with Max breathing down his neck but he's kept it more or less under control."