Lando Norris on LN4 Fusion, LN4 Legacy, and Building a Pathway for the Next Generation
Lando Norris is the co-founder of LN4 Fusion, a project he has approached with a serious, long-term mindset.
Alongside it, he has launched the LN4 Legacy Programme, an initiative that operates independently of LN4 Fusion while sharing its core values, creating opportunities for talented young drivers and giving them the support they need to maximise their potential in motorsport.
Why did you decide to launch LN4 Fusion?
Because I'm a fan of racing. I have been since I was a kid. As much as I love the driving part, I also love supporting other young drivers. I love to watch racing. I love to be involved. It's something I'm going to want to be in well after my own career. It's an opportunity to stay connected to racing, be part of something, help others.
I can try and help using my experience and understanding of what it takes to build an incredible racing team, hopefully the leading racing team, while helping younger drivers come through the single-seater ladder.
What is the LN4 Legacy Programme?
The LN4 Legacy Programme is a very exciting programme aimed at helping talented young drivers who might not otherwise have the financial backing or support they need to fulfil their potential, with the ultimate ambition of helping them reach Formula 1.
As you all know, motorsport is very expensive, so one of the biggest parts of it is funding. But as well as that, a variety of different things: coaching, media support, anything that goes with being a racing driver, from day-to-day stuff to preparing yourself for Formula 1. Funding obviously gives the driver an opportunity, but an opportunity isn't all that you need.
One thing that I know is so important, and was so crucial to me, was the people I had around me. It's about much more than just going out and driving on track. You need people who are there to support you, be there for you, give you honest feedback.
What do you expect to make the difference for these new programmes?
A lot of the stuff that worked for me is what I want to help other people with. Obviously, everything's tailored, so everyone is different, and you have to find your own way of working with different people.
But it's about putting people in the right place, with the right people to support them as an individual, with the goal of helping each driver maximise their potential and see how far their talent can take them.
So the LN4 Legacy Programme is very important to me because I know how lucky I was to have support from my family in my journey to go from karting all the way to being a Formula 1 driver and trying to achieve my dream.
What are your expectations about the future of LN4 Fusion?
The aim is pretty simple. We want to build a team that can compete with the very best in all the junior categories. We've brought together a very strong group of people with a huge amount of experience in the sport. And we want to build it into something properly for the long term.
I've been through the whole journey myself, from karting, to all the categories, to Formula 1, to winning a world championship. So I know what it takes and how important it is to have the people and the team around you as a race driver. We all have the same ambition, to create the leading junior racing team.
What is the long-term goal you want to achieve?
I think the main part of this for me is I get to simply stay very involved in racing, and because this is a very long-term project, it's not just a two-year, five-year, 10-year. Hopefully this is much longer.
It's about always having a team that I can support myself, always having a team that I can really feel a part of, be my family, be cars that I see on TV that I can support. At the minute, it's kind of just been the teams I've been with in the past, or maybe I support certain drivers, but this is my team, a story that we can create over the years and to support drivers as well.