Lando Norris finished on the podium again as he took on a new challenge in the Italian F4 Championship.

The 15-year-old, turning out for Mücke Motorsport in six Italian and German meetings between his MSA Formula commitments, didn’t take long to make his mark. Despite a third place finish, he knew the weekend could have been even better after an early crash ended his hopes in the first race and left him with a mountain to climb in the second. 

The ADD Motorsports-supported Somerset racer said: “It was really good to test myself against some different drivers and with a different team. We were really fast all weekend and if it wasn’t for a crash in the first race I’m sure I would have been challenging in every race.  It was a little disappointing but really good to finish the weekend with a podium.” 

Lando hit the ground running in Monza in the second weekend in the Italian championship, finishing P1 in the warm-up on his first ever time on the track.  He kept the momentum going to qualify for the first and third race in second place. Unfortunately another driver crashed into him hard from behind on the first bend, leaving him unable to finish the race. It also left him at the back of the grid for the second race, which saw him take on three-quarters of the drivers to impressively and expertly finish in sixth, but Lando got his reward for the weekend’s hard work and earlier bad luck with a third place finish in the final race.

His pace wasn’t quite there for the first time to challenge any higher, but he could come away happy with the weekend’s work.

He added: “We are entering the different championships for experience and to keep the momentum going, but I’ll be hoping to push on with Mücke in the next round and hopefully look forward to some more podiums.”