INTERVIEW: What it’s like to be Lando Norris’ race engineer

Norris had a shot last year, although in fairness, after Max Verstappen won four of the first five Grands Prix and seven of the opening ten, it was always a long one considering how far back the challenge was launched. Despite the faltering steps taken by Red Bull with its RB20, Verstappen managed to get over the line to become a four-time World Champion.

Norris had to content himself by helping McLaren win its first Constructors' Championship since 1998. Welcome enough, but in F1 a driver always has their sights set on the ultimate goal.

And behind every great racing driver, certainly in the modern era anyway, a race engineer is steering their charge in the right direction. Joseph is that man with Norris, their partnership stretching back to a test before the latter's arrival on the scene in F1 in 2019.

With the increase in radio communications broadcast over a Grand Prix weekend, Joseph's calm, steadying tone has become as recognisable as that of Gianpiero Lambiase with Verstappen, or Pete Bonnington over the years at Mercedes with Lewis Hamilton, and now Kimi Antonelli.

In Joseph's own words, a race engineer is "the conductor of an orchestra." Speaking with this writer in an interview for The New York Times, he said: "They are fundamentally responsible for the car. They have engineers underneath them, and you're trying to get each engineer to get the most for your driver and the car.

"The race engineer is responsible for the car setup, the run plans, the tyre usage, for all the communications with the driver, all the administration that goes around having a driver, factory days, the time we're out at the track,” the list goes on and on.

In short, Joseph is Norris' right-hand man, an invaluable lexicon of information when it comes to getting the best out of his car at any given time.

Before Norris, Joseph had been race engineer to Fernando Alonso in the two-time F1 Champion's second stint with McLaren, stepping up to that role after previously being a performance engineer to Hamilton, as well as Alonso, amongst others.

Those years with Alonso stood him in good stead when it came to working with then-rookie Norris.

"Fernando was my first driver as a race engineer," said Joseph. "Now, Fernando was already a World Champion. He was already a fantastic driver. For me, it was very good that, as a newbie race engineer, I had someone with such high experience that I could benefit more from him than the other way around.”

"That relationship between Fernando and I had started as performance engineer and then I stepped up to race engineer. As I say, having someone with that experience meant I could develop myself a lot in preparation for a different driver where the requirements are different. I could then take that learning and understanding to Lando, who was a rookie and needed things very differently. There I was the lead, whereas before it was the other way around."

As you would naturally expect, the Norris from day one in 2019 is vastly different to the Norris of today, in many ways. With experience has come maturity and a depth of understanding that has thrust him to the fore as a driver to be reckoned with.

"There's been a huge change in him and the way we, as a team, have had to work," assessed Joseph. "When he joined, he was a rookie, and we came up with a development plan of what we thought we needed to cover to ultimately achieve our goal and his goals. That needs to change on a year-by-year basis.

"In Year 1, you have to make sure you get the fundamentals right. You have to make sure you know the regulations to minimise any mistakes. He doesn't need to worry about the setup of the car, and the details of that, because I can take care of all of that.

"Then, over time he becomes more aware of things, to the point now whereby in some things he is much more capable and aware than we are because he's so in tune with the car now that he has that understanding. He can be demanding on us now, whereas before we had to be more demanding on him."

The overriding aspect of a relationship between a driver and their race engineer is of two-way trust. Without it, there will be a communication breakdown that will be to the overall detriment of the team. Both Joseph and Norris have learned to trust each other implicitly.

"There are things that we say or do, just within our small group, and Lando trusts us that if we're unhappy with something that's happened, we will tell him, and we know that if he's unhappy with something we've done, he will tell us," said Joseph. 

"That's incredibly powerful when you build a relationship because that strong trust allows us to have, not conflict, but those interactions and to have the humility to say, 'We're just trying to achieve the best, and this is how we do better'. 

"Trust has been fundamental and through that, we've had changes as he's grown up into an adult, as he's become more experienced with the car, the tyres and the tracks."

Their relationship, however, does not extend too far beyond the race track. There is a certain level of banter, naturally, however Joseph recognises he and Norris have to remain professional.

"I would certainly say we're friends, that we have a very strong relationship, but we're not best friends," remarked Joseph. "We don't need to be and people shouldn't expect us to be, I don't think.

"Am I texting him midweek about certain stuff? No. I think the job of the race engineer is to have that adult relationship with a colleague because, at the end of the day, Lando is a friend, but he's also a colleague. Having that strong relationship means if there are things that need to be done, I can be frank about it and vice versa."

With that bond between them cemented in place, and with McLaren the team to beat this season, given the performant nature of the MCL39, it would appear Norris has all that is required to become F1 Champion.

Obviously, Joseph agrees, but it is with good reason.

"Every driver is on a constant curve of improvement. We're on that curve, and we're now very high up the development curve. I guess we're on the diminishing rate of returns. But there are always things we can do better. There are always possibilities with his driving, how we use information to set up the car, or how we communicate the strategy or the race conditions.

"But I think he's demonstrated he has the ability to be a World Champion, and it's all about putting it together. Everything has to align for that to happen."

If Norris does become F1 Champion this year, Joseph knows he will be celebrating with him at a venue far removed from that pub in Guildford all those years ago. 

Images courtesy of Getty Images.