Sainz hails ‘nice guy’ Norris as worthy world champion

Carlos Sainz was among the first to cut through the post-race chaos at Yas Marina to congratulate his old McLaren teammate and friend, Lando Norris, on his maiden F1 world title.

For the Spaniard, who shared two seasons of laughs, late-night debriefs and on-track graft with Norris during their fan-favourite “Carlando” era, this wasn’t just a polite gesture. It was pride, admiration… and a little vindication.

Sainz was glowing as he reflected on Norris’s breakthrough triumph, insisting the Briton had silenced critics simply by being himself.

“Yeah, honestly, very happy for him. I think he's a great F1 driver. I think unbelievably fast,” the Williams charger Sainz told reporters.

“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.”

The pair formed one of the paddock’s most beloved duos when they joined McLaren together in 2019, and Sainz was one of the first to recognise Norris’s raw pace even then.

‘He had the speed to be multiple world champion’

Sainz made it clear: Norris’s title wasn’t a surprise to anyone who’d raced alongside him.

“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.”

But for Sainz, the most impressive part wasn’t the speed, the qualifying laps or the late-race composure under pressure from Max Verstappen. It was Norris’s refusal to become someone he wasn’t.

Nice Guys Can Win World Championships

Sainz praised Norris for breaking the mould of the ruthless, hard-edged world champion archetype.

“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 explained.

“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.”

Sainz acknowledged how tough the year had been on Norris, particularly with scrutiny from fans and media and the looming threat of Verstappen’s comeback.

• Read also: Emotional Norris pays tribute to McLaren team and family

“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,” he said.

“It's never easy to be world champion with Max breathing down his neck but he's kept it more or less under control.”

From teammates to rivals to enduring friends, Sainz’s pride in Norris radiated through every word. And as Norris begins life as a world champion, Sainz’s message was clear: stay exactly who you are.