A driver who has yet to win a Grand Prix and a team on the rise but far from its golden age lead the Formula 1 marketing race. We investigate why. Lando Norris is the undisputed new midas king of Formula 1. The recent survey carried out by Formula has confirmed that he is the world motorsport star with the greatest marketing potential. Currently, it is the third with the most followers, only surpassed in popularity by Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton, but we are talking about the contenders for the world title. Discounting this factor, the fact that Norris is so close in recognition of them indicates the enormous media potential that he possesses.

Even more shocking is to see the gigantic difference in terms of followers over George Russell, fellow generation. This, not even with his stellar performances and his signing for 2022 with Mercedes has managed to reduce the enormous gap in popularity that separates them among the younger audience, let alone among adolescent fans. What makes this boy so special? It is explained by a mixture of personal qualities accompanied by a job very well done.

A great driver and a simple guy

Lando doesn't live up to the Jenson Button-esque cutie heartthrob canon, nor is he a witty, fun guy on the Daniel Ricciardo level. But in all the parameters that are used to measure the attractiveness of a star, he scores high and destroys his most distinctive hallmark: naturalness. Lando is someone who comes from a very wealthy family, but is probably one of the more down-to-earth characters in the paddock. Beneath his apparent naivety, once he puts on his helmet, he is a tough guy and, as could be seen in Russia, also with a lot of character. He is someone who is immediately perceived as intelligent but above all, he is a great driver. An extraordinary pilot.

However, the history of Formula 1 is full of great drivers who fell far short of materializing the enormous media and commercial potential that they treasured, either because of their bad decisions or because of the disastrous advice of those around them. Norris's case is a perfect example of how a rough diamond grows exponentially when polished. Falling into a team like McLaren with a communication and marketing genius like Zak Brown, is like being 'born standing up'.

A perfectly aligned strategy

The Lando-Zak tandem's formula for success is as simple and old as it is rare to find it well applied: align the strategy of drivers, team and sponsors. The parties carry out a preliminary study and agree on the objectives to be achieved, assess the assets that each actor involved has and finally all commit to good planning. In the activation of sponsorships and image it is crucial to have the ideas well ordered in the head. Like the case at hand.

Below a genie (two in this case) someone needs to ground the genies to the ground. In the case of McLaren and Lando Norris, the architect of aligning the planets of this magical universe created by the driver and the team is called Charlotte Seffton, the person in the rear who makes all that millimeter planning seem spontaneous and natural.

Adam Norris, Lando's father, is an astute businessman, a great help in helping the English driver's off-road business go from strength to strength. Lando already begins to run a small empire in which his video game and clothing company called Quadrant stands out in a special way. Its success, like that of its communication channels on social networks, is overwhelming and always based on the premise of its spontaneity. When he leads an eSports team, people see that Lando truly participates in competitions and interacts with fans. His YouTube channel is by far the most successful of all the drivers, and it came out of the most natural way.

Team and driver in sync

In April 2018 Norris asked Zak Brown for permission to personally take viewers of his YouTube channel behind the scenes of the McLaren Technology Center. Faced with a situation like this, you can find yourself with a stiff boss or someone proactive who detects the opportunity where others see problems. A review of Norris's social networks proves that synchrony between driver and team. It is very common to see McLaren playing Lando by interacting with famous YouTubers such as Casey Neistat or WillNE, or openly promoting exclusively personal initiatives of their driver.

A good example of this is the recently launched brand of Karts 'LN', made in collaboration with the OTK (Tony Kart) group. McLaren does not have any kind of link in this business adventure but knows of the enormous pull of its driver among young drivers, which in the long run can only bring benefits to McLaren itself. The karting brand and equipment has been an instant success and motorsport up-and-comers immediately identify with the new brand. Not only because Lando himself was Karting World Champion seven years ago, but because his commitment to karting competitions is real and effective.

When two years ago McLaren created their successful series called 'McLaren Unboxed', (a series of short 'documentaries' that reflect the lives of the drivers, but also the rest of the team throughout the race weekend) , they could not have found anyone better than Lando Norris and Carlos Sainz to convey an attractive and sincere view of sport with closeness and charisma. Hopefully Ferrari knows how to give Carlos the necessary support to be able to replicate this 'Made in Woking' success story in Maranello. Here, the man from Madrid could rightly say: And what does Lando have that I don't?