Formula 1: Lando Norris beat everybody in one key stat in 2020
By Asher Fair
Lando Norris beat everybody in Formula 1 in one particular category in the 2020 Formula 1 season, one which had been dominated by Lewis Hamilton.
The coronavirus pandemic-shortened 2020 Formula 1 season saw McLaren’s Lando Norris achieve quite a bit in what was just his second season with the Woking-based outfit.
He finished in a career-high ninth place in the driver standings after securing his maiden podium finish in the season-opening Austrian Grand Prix at the Red Bull Ring, he helped propel to the team to a third place finish in the constructor standings, their best result since 2012.
And we cannot forget that he also achieved his first Fall Guys win, which he compared to his first career podium finish.
But he also led all drivers in one category — really two, but they fall under the same umbrella.
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Nobody ran more laps or drove a longer distance than Norris did throughout the 17 races on the 2020 calendar.
With 12 lead lap finishes, four finishes only one lap off the lead lap and just one retirement, Norris completed 1,015 of the 1,037 laps on the schedule, more than any other driver, for a total of 3180.85 miles (5,119.08 kilometers), also more than any other driver. This category had been dominated by seven-time world champion and fellow Briton Lewis Hamilton entering the 2020 season.
Hamilton had sat atop these lists in each of the last three seasons entering the 2020 season, and he likely would have again in 2020 had he not been forced to miss the 87-lap Sakhir Grand Prix around the 11-turn, 2.202-mile (3.544-kilometer) Bahrain International Circuit road course in Sakhir, Bahrain after testing positive for COVID-19.
He completed 950 laps (out of the 950 he ran) for a total distance of 3059.04 miles (4,923.05 kilometers).
Nevertheless, give Norris a ton of credit. There were quite a few other drivers in quicker cars who very well could have taken advantage of Hamilton’s one-race absence to propel themselves to the top of this list, but it was the 21-year-old who was able to pull it off by being consistent throughout the entire season.
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Norris is set to enter the 2021 Formula 1 season with a new teammate, as Daniel Ricciardo has left Renault to replace the Ferrari-bound Carlos Sainz Jr. The season is scheduled to get underway on Sunday, March 21 with the Australian Grand Prix at Albert Park Grand Prix Circuit, although that is subject to change depending on the pandemic situation.