“He’d be very proud of us all”: Lando Norris’ race engineer dedicates McLaren star’s comeback drive to his late father in a touching gesture

Will Joseph, Lando Norris' race engineer at McLaren, has decided to dedicate the British driver's mega comeback at Baku to his late father. Norris surged from P15 to a mighty impressive P4 at the recently concluded Azerbaijan Grand Prix, and Joseph did not want to miss out on this opportunity.

Norris had a poor qualifying session on Saturday, where he qualified in P17. This was the first Q1 exit for the British driver, and for McLaren as well. However, he started the race from P15 due to penalties imposed on Pierre Gasly and Lewis Hamilton, who were forced to start from the pit lane.

Soon after the race started, the Briton made some quick overtakes, gained a couple of places, and was well within the points by the time he made his first pit stop. In the end, he came home in P4 and improved by 11 positions.

As Norris crossed the finish line, Will Joseph, his race engineer, reached out to him over the radio, seeking permission to dedicate the race.

"Lando, do you mind if I dedicate this to someone?" he asked Norris.

Hearing this, Norris said,

"Go ahead Will, of course you can."

Joseph then replied,

"My dad passed away 10 years ago today as I was on the way to Singapore. So this is to him, he would be very proud of us all."

Thanks to his mega improvement, Norris did not lose out on a chunk of points. On top of that, he reduced his Championship gap to Max Verstappen from 62 points to 59 points after 17 races.

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Sainz and Perez's crash helped his cause, reveals Lando Norris

Andrea Stella, Lando Norris, Oscar Piastri at Baku City Circuit. (Source: Getty)

Carlos Sainz and Sergio Perez crashed into each other in Lap 50 of 51 while they were jockeying for positions. At the time of the crash, they were charging Charles Leclerc for P2, but unfortunately, ended up against the wall.

The crash benefited Norris, allowing him to move from P6 to P4. Speaking about this in the post-race interview, Norris said,

"I am happy. I wasn't expecting it to be so good. And the two cars crashing in front helped a lot. As soon as Alex got out of my way the pace was good. And Oscar winning was also good for the team."

Thanks to his P4 and Oscar Piastri's victory, McLaren replaced Red Bull at the top of the Constructors' Championship. They currently have 476 points, 20 points more than the Austrian team.