Norris pays a visit to Indianapolis Motor Speedway

Reigning Formula 1 World Champion Lando Norris traveled from Sunday’s Canadian Grand Prix to Indianapolis and spent Monday morning taking his first tour of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway as celebratory photos were being taken on the yard of bricks with Indy 500 winner Felix Rosenqvist.

The McLaren driver met with his friend Conor Daly, received a tour of the IMS Museum by Roger Penske, played golf on The Brickyard course, filmed with McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown in ‘The Condor’ motorhome used by the team in the 1970s, and met with a select group of media in Victory Lane before Arrow McLaren team principal and 2013 Indy 500 winner Tony Kanaan took Norris for laps around the 2.5-mile oval.

“First visit here,” Norris told RACER and a small pool of other outlets. “Awesome. Obviously I'm missing the fans. I feel like the fans are like the most important part of it. I've known Indianapolis as a track; [it] was one of the first ones that I remember watching as a kid, the road course, obviously in Formula 1. And was one of the ones I loved driving, so I used to drive it always on the simulator, so it's actually a track I've known for probably the longest time, even longer than Silverstone.

“Obviously, Indy 500 is easily the biggest race of the year. I didn't get to watch the whole thing yesterday, but it's just cool to be here. I went to the museum earlier with Roger [Penske] and got to just experience, see the history of it, see Gil [de Ferran’s 2003 Indy winner], which was cool, just see the history of from when it started to now, and then see the evolution of how it's changed. But I wish I was here yesterday, just feel the atmosphere, 300,000 fans.”

Despite the intent for Norris to play the role of passenger, he managed to commandeer the Corvette pace car and turn laps from the driver’s seat.

“I'm the worst passenger ever,” Norris added. “I hate being a passenger, but if there's anyone I think I can trust, is probably TK. So I'm excited.”

Norris got to connect with Rosenqvist and congratulate the Swede on his big achievement.

“It's just always one of the coolest races you can possibly watch, you know, because it's about timing, it's about strategy, it's about being in the right place at the right time, and you'll see, have a finish like you had yesterday, which was, which is even cooler, and it was Felix, which is a guy that I knew growing up, and never really raced against anything, but I knew Felix for many, many years when I was younger, so I was happy for him, and nice to see him win, especially because he just had his kid as well.”

Asked if he held an interest in racing at the Indy 500, Norris seemed open to the concept, but acknowledged it isn’t something he’s actively pursuing at the moment.

“I don't want to say no,” he added. “I certainly want to try things outside of Formula 1. I'm a racing fan. I love Formula 1 more than anything, but at the same time, I love everything. I love bikes, I love rally, I love IndyCar, I love just all racing in general. So, whether it is the Indy 500 or just IndyCar in general, I know that Indy 500 is the one, and obviously it's part of the Triple Crown for McLaren as well, so I won Monaco, which is, you know, Part 1 done.

“Obviously, got a championship now under my belt. Just two more to do, so I don't know if I want to kind of.. I never had a thought of trying to achieve the Triple Crown, but obviously I've ticked one of the boxes already, and now I kind of come here to the warm-up for it all, and see Fernando [Alonso] attempted it, and things like that always makes it more inviting, so you never know.”