Norris excited by "more challenging" new calendar additions

Lando Norris is relishing the opportunity of testing himself on the latest additions to the Formula 1 calendar.

F1 announced on Friday it had cancelled all four races in the Americas for this year - the Canadian, United States, Mexico City and Brazilian Grands Prix - while adding the Nürburgring, Portimão and Imola.

With a race at another new venue in Mugello in mid-September, McLaren driver Norris is excited by the prospect of what is to come.

"Imola and Nürburgring are two amazing tracks," said Norris. "Nürburgring is one that I love.

"I remember watching F1 back in 2007 [at that circuit], maybe a little bit later. It’s just a really cool track which I’ve enjoyed driving on in several different categories, and Imola, too. I did it in Italian Formula 4, so one that’s quite famous and I remember watching F1 there, too."

Norris drove at the Nürburgring, in particular, during his title-winning 2017 F3 European Championship campaign, claiming two victories and a second-place finish across the three races.

The 20-year-old is less enamoured by Mugello, if only because he feels it will prove almost impossible to overtake at the track. "Mugello I raced in Italian Formula 4 back in 2015," added Norris. "It was really cool. It’s very high speed, medium to high-speed corners, [with] no real tight chicanes.

"I think it will be one of the tracks almost like Austria in some ways, without the big braking zones on top of it, but with a lot of these high-speed, medium-speed corners which will push the physical attributes of a driver to the limit, [and] push F1 to the limit in terms of how quick the cars are around these types of corners.

"It may not be the best for racing. I don’t know if you’ll see any overtakes between turn one and the last corner! So I think it’s almost going to be Hungaryesque in some ways, but at the same time, it’s an awesome track so qualifying will be incredible.”

Overall, Norris feels all four tracks at least something different compared to what F1 has become accustomed to over the years.

“All of these tracks I look forward to driving," said Norris. "I think any new track, any track that you haven’t been to for a while, or it’s new to the category you’re in, is exciting. It’s just something different from the norm.

"You go there not knowing exactly what you have to do set-up-wise and it puts every team in a slightly more vulnerable position. So it’s kind of more challenging and I think that that’s very exciting. I look forward to the opportunity."

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