When the worlds of football and motorsport collide, Rice meets McLaren F1 superstar Lando Norris, and they share stories of competing at the highest level and managing pressure on the world stage.

Rice: This is the closest I've ever been to an F1 car.

Norris: You've never been to a race?

Rice: No, not once. I've never had the time. Even for races like Silverstone. It's never been on my schedule. So I'd really like to find a chance to see it.

We could go to Silverstone, or we could go to Monaco. You can go anywhere. Name a place, and you can go there.

Rice: So how different is this car from last year's car?

Norris: It's really different. I'm not sure how much you know about it, but there's a lot to figure out. The entire car is different—the looks, the layout, and the engine works differently this year too. Like the hybrid system, the battery, and all that. I have to understand all of it. It's complicated. Really complicated.

Rice: But all the other teams are going to try to get an advantage too.

Norris: That's the thing. Because these are new regulations now, it's an opportunity for a team to build a bigger advantage, right? Over the last few years, everyone's gotten closer and closer together, become more and more similar. Now it's like everyone's free again, and you have to find a way to get these advantages. So it's very exciting. We don't really know what everyone's working on, and there are little secrets and things like that, but these secrets are born in this building. Nobody knows what's happening in these rooms. You won't see them. I'm telling you. I don't think you could get into a car. I don't think so.

Rice: Yeah, I really don't think I could. My legs are too long.

Norris: Do you like cars?

Rice: Yeah, I love cars. But for you, this must be car heaven.

Norris: It really is. Really. The first time I came here, I was about 11 or 12 years old. Really? Yeah. So that was, yeah.

Rice: Fourteen years ago, mate. That's mad. This is the building you come back to after winning a race, and everyone was happy to see that video. Yeah, it's mad.

Norris: It's special to walk around here too. I've known this place for years, but look, there's Fittipaldi, Senna, Prost—everyone in racing knows these names. You see them everywhere. Multiple world champions, and Mika Häkkinen. And now I think, yeah, my name is next to theirs. It's really incredible. Thinking about it blows you away. So there are historic cars, maybe some of the greatest racing cars of all time—Senna's cars—and some of the coolest cars around, all priceless. Actually, I can still drive them occasionally, because we have Goodwood events. We have family day–type events here. We can drive the cars around the circuit. How different are they? Very different. I mean, it's an H-pattern manual gearbox. So I have to go back in time, shift gears, use the clutch. Because now our paddle shifters are on the steering wheel. Yeah. I only use it at the start, when I'm leaving the pit box.

But, I mean, it's the same as a road car. You have a clutch pedal, and then, you know, first gear, second gear, one hand on the wheel. So imagine Monaco. Imagine driving Monaco like that now. Monaco with a clutch. So, is that the one he actually drove back then? Yeah. I mean, yeah, there are a few here. And these, if you talk to F1 fans, are considered some of the best cars of all time.

Rice: Compared to the car you showed me upstairs—the one you'll drive this season—this is crazy. It's like two different worlds. Safety innovations have always been one of the biggest changes. Like here, I mean, these cars now use carbon fiber monocoques, whereas before it was more like fiberglass.

Norris: Yeah. So at that point, safety had actually improved a lot. But then, think about it—you can see the driver's entire head, the helmet is right there, so the whole head is exposed. No Halo. I mean, the Halo was only introduced five, six, or seven years ago. Back then, it was completely open, you know, and the driver's feet were just there.

Rice: Yeah. Yeah. It's really something to think about. Yeah. Safety is one of the areas where innovation has had the biggest impact. Yeah. Look, you're a bit more compact in the car now. Yeah. And everything is much thicker. I mean, like... I mean, and it's much lighter. Well, when you actually think about it and think about the speeds you're going, and you usually only see it on television, it gives you the sense that these are... Yeah, these are some of the best cars in F1 history. Some are slightly more modern cars.

Norris: Yeah, like the cars from 2007, 2008. That's when technological innovation started to become really important. Yeah. This is the heritage department. So some of the cars here are still driven by owners or others today. This department will rebuild and reassemble them, because think about running these cars now. Their technology is old. So to run these old cars, you need a laptop built about 40 years ago, with all that old technology. So, should we head in and take a look?

Traduit par IA.

Le site web d'AF est désormais en ligne ! Actualités complètes, commentaires, détails des matchs et statistiques sur votre ordinateur. Visitez : www.allfootballapp.com