Norris has learned 'a lot' from Alonso

Cape Town - Ahead of his debut F1 campaign, Lando Norris believes he has learned a lot from watching what Fernando Alonso does different to Stoffel Vandoorne. 

Next season McLaren will feature an all-new line up after Alonso opted to retire from Formula 1 racing while Vandoorne was given the boot after a disappointing season. 

Instead rookie driver Norris will contest his first F1 season, racing alongside Carlos Sainz. 

The British racer is already well entrenched at McLaren having spent 2018 filling the role of test and reserve driver. 

Attending grands prix weekends with McLaren, he got to know Alonso and learned how the double World Champion operates. 

"I rate him as a very good driver," he told RaceFans.net. 

"I raced with him at Daytona, I’ve watched him race obviously in all these Formula 1 races. 

"We’ve done a lot of things together, we get along really well. 

"He’s a really nice guy and I think it’s good for me to see how much effort, how much work he puts into every race weekend. 

"What things he does differently to Stoffel and Stoffel does differently to Fernando and work out all the good things about any driver. 

"So there’s a lot of things I’ve learned from Fernando. 

"I got to know him at a much earlier point in my career than any other driver. 

"[I’ve seen] what he does, how he acts, how he does life. 

"He’s the first guy I’ve always looked up to within Formula 1, mainly because of joining McLaren and getting to know him a bit more."