Formula 1 is at a point right now where we’re getting to witness two generations of drivers battle it out on track. And one such duel that the F1 community loves to watch is Lewis Hamilton versus Lando Norris—the 38-year-old seven-time world champion versus the 23-year-old young Brit still chasing his first win. And in the past few years, we’ve witnessed a handful of battles between the two, the latest installment of which occurred at the British GP.

Despite being 15 years older than his compatriot, Lewis Hamilton is still the fighter he was back when he joined the sport in 2007. In a Mercedes W14 that hasn’t been doing too well lately, Hamilton challenged Norris in his updated McLaren MCL60 for second place until the end of the race. After successfully holding him off and crossing the line ahead of Lewis, Lando couldn’t help but take a dig at the 38-year-old, saying, “You’re quite old, buddy!” Jokes aside, though, he also opened up about Lewis’s influence on his career.

Lewis Hamilton in McLaren played a huge role in Lando Norris’ life

Shortly after Lando Norris started driving karts, he started watching F1 too. You would think an F1 driver would’ve attended and watched races live for them to get interested in the sport. But that wasn’t the case for Norris. The first time he watched a race live was in 2017 after he joined McLaren as its reserve driver. But before that, Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso made him want to become an F1 driver.

Being a British driver, Norris followed Hamilton from his first season in F1 in 2007, when he partnered with Alonso at McLaren. That season was a fiery one, with both wanting to beat the other. Although they eventually lost to Kimi Raikkonen, the intra-team tension was palpable, with both occasionally engaging in dirty tactics against the other.

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While discussing this rivalry and how intense teammate battles are, as quoted by motorsport-total.com, Norris sarcastically said, “I saw the great teamwork from Lewis and Fernando. It reminds me of all my relationships, my teammates. Yes, that’s what made me want to be a racing driver, to sit here and fight and be a Formula 1 driver.” [translated via Google]

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In F1, unlike other sports, a driver’s teammate is their biggest rival. And the inclination to feel this rivalry for himself drove Norris to want to become an F1 driver. So if you’re looking for someone to thank for the inter-generation British rivalry between Lando and Lewis, Hamilton is the man. While the British GP saw the latest edition of their on-track battles, it wasn’t their first this season. Neither was it the first time Norris took a dig at his idol.

Lando Norris dissed Hamilton after the Austrian GP

McLaren brought the first round of its major upgrade overhaul to Austria, and Lando Norris took the most out of it. In a chaotic race filled with track limit violations, the young Brit chased Hamilton for P5. But while defending, Hamilton tested the track limits a few too many times, and Norris ensured to report every one of them, practically giving live commentary on every lap.

Hamilton received a 5-second penalty and a 10-second post-race penalty, finishing in P7, while Norris finished in P4. After the race, Norris said, “I was giving commentary on every single corner of Lewis going off. Literally, he was going off in every corner. I reckon he went off five times in one lap, so that’s like a penalty straight away. He went off at least 20 times. Every corner for three laps, I was like ‘off,’ ‘off,’ ‘off.'”

Do you think the two Brits will battle it out more on track this year?

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