Lando Norris and Declan Rice talk title battles, F1 and football! | BBC Sport

0:00 Guys, thanks so much for joining me.

0:01 Deck, you've had a tour of this place.

0:03 You're pretty impressed, aren't you?

0:05 It's incredible, honestly.

0:06 It's mind-blowing.

0:06 Obviously, getting to meet Lando and then being shown around

0:10 here to see what's going on has been been so special.

0:13 And I hear you went in the sim.

0:15 Was he any good, Lando?

0:16 He He got better.

0:18 [laughter] He got He got to start somewhere, right?

0:19 He didn't know Silverstone as a track, so I mean, he learned it.

0:22 Once he learns it, he improved a lot.

0:24 And in the end, like, your final lap was pretty good.

0:26 1:37, not a bad lap.

0:28 No, it was It was good.

0:28 He said a couple more laps, he'd match me, so Match the coffee machine.

0:32 he was taking it so easy, honestly, he was.

0:37 Lando, you're [music] of course reigning world champion.

0:40 You won the title battle.

0:42 Deck's [music] in a title battle at the moment,

0:45 hoping to win the Premier League.

0:46 Do you have any advice for him?

0:48 Give me some.

0:49 Yeah, you're saying Give me some.

0:51 Um what's the main thing?

0:52 I mean, I feel like you do have confidence in yourself and the team.

0:56 Like, that's I wouldn't have said the same thing over a year ago,

0:58 but that's one of the things I learned

0:59 the most is go out on the pitch, enjoy it.

1:02 Yeah.

1:02 As long as you've done your preparation, you can stay calm and chill.

1:06 But I don't know.

1:06 I don't I I don't want to give advice No, but it's good though,

1:09 because you've probably been through like loads of like

1:11 little losses as well before you got your massive win.

1:14 That's like the process I've been involved in.

1:16 It's like I've won a trophy at West Ham,

1:18 obviously nothing with Arsenal yet, but we're building towards that.

1:21 It's going to come at some point.

1:22 It's just You've got to keep, you know, you've got to keep going.

1:25 Everything's about keeping the team together, supporting each other,

1:29 being honest with one another, but like keeping the morale up, you know.

1:33 But it's good to see.

1:34 You're both like at the top of your game at such young ages as well.

1:38 In terms of your journeys to get to where you are,

1:40 do you think there's any sort of similarities?

1:42 Obviously, it's still a very different sport, right?

1:44 But I think in terms of um being an athlete,

1:47 um understanding how to to optimize yourself for your sport,

1:52 understanding, you know, what what drives you, what motivates you.

1:55 I think that's different for everyone, but also pretty similar.

1:58 Like for me, everything's about the team I have around me,

1:59 like my personal team, them helping me,

2:01 me helping them to kind of always keep me in the best position possible,

2:04 optimizing me, and also just trying to enjoy it.

2:07 Like it's a simple thing, and everyone kind of always says it, but for me,

2:10 it's a very positive spiral that I have to get

2:12 myself into, which is kind of the the better I do,

2:14 the more I enjoy it, the more I enjoy it, the more I want to work for it.

2:17 And you want, you know,

2:17 everything in the end of the day is exploring like the tiny gains.

2:21 Uh it's the same thing for us as it probably is in the football, you know.

2:24 It's the little things that sometimes you never think about,

2:26 but when you add up 20 different little tiny things,

2:30 it's going to help you when it comes down to that final game,

2:32 that final race, that final lap, whatever it's going to be.

2:34 So, uh for me, like having a good team around me, but also just,

2:37 you know, understanding what suits uh you as a as an individual.

2:42 Um when you go out onto the pitch or when you go onto the track,

2:45 what's going to get you in the zone the most?

2:47 What's going to allow you to separate yourself from the rest of the, you know,

2:50 your your opposition the most?

2:52 And that you kind of got to learn with experience and time.

2:54 Like there is no cheat to going, "Oh, this guy did it.

2:56 I'm just going to copy him." That doesn't work always, you know,

2:59 so you've got to um explore things, you've got to try things,

3:01 you've got to fail, cuz you're always going to learn the most

3:04 from from the times that you you struggle and you fail.

3:06 Do you agree with that?

3:07 He's answered everything in the most perfect [laughter] way possible.

3:10 is he?

3:10 Yeah, I think the main thing he was saying then is

3:12 like about exploiting like every little marginal gain advantage you can get.

3:16 I've noticed that so much more in football

3:18 now in terms of how the game's evolving

3:20 and as individuals how you can improve year

3:22 on year is by exploiting them little advantages,

3:25 how much do you want it, the team around you,

3:27 how much do you want to get better, how much do you want to win.

3:30 Um and that's something I've noticed with me,

3:32 but also my team is that like we're

3:33 trying to elevate ourselves year on year, so yeah.

3:36 Hopefully, like I said, positive things coming.

3:38 How do you cope with having to perform at the top level sort of 24/7 constantly?

3:43 I feel like when you've done it from such a young age and you know

3:46 it's it's what you do for a living and you love it and you enjoy it,

3:49 when you go out there, it's just like it's like second nature in a way.

3:52 Um and a beautiful thing with football is like it would be with F1,

3:56 you know, if if I don't play well now, I'm old enough to understand.

3:58 I don't need someone to tell me that I've, you know, that I've not played well.

4:01 I'm I'm the my first person to know I've not played well.

4:04 But the beauty is you've always got another game in a few days to make it right.

4:08 Like you guys would have another race.

4:10 So, I feel like that's where I keep my level-headed up.

4:13 What do you think of each other's sports then?

4:14 Do you Lando, do you like football?

4:16 I love football out of I mean, I did a lot of sports when I was younger.

4:19 Uh football was the one I enjoyed the most that wasn't racing.

4:23 Mainly cuz I was tiny.

4:25 Like all I did when I played rugby was get beaten up the whole day.

4:28 Wasn't wasn't for me.

4:30 [laughter] Was not for me.

4:31 Um but I love football and I played the sport

4:33 I played the most was football when I was younger.

4:36 Uh and I drifted away from it obviously when I got really into racing.

4:39 But it's It is a sport that kind of brings everyone together.

4:41 It's just cool, you know, it's cool that I get to watch.

4:44 Um and I like I said, I drifted away, but I used to collect like match attacks

4:47 and stuff when I was younger and I loved it.

4:49 And I used to watch other games and all those things,

4:51 but only until recently uh did I start to go

4:54 to some games and kind of get to experience the atmosphere,

4:56 the feeling, the vibe.

4:58 Um and after speaking to Declan today like to get

5:01 to know the the cool like behind-the-scenes stuff, you know,

5:03 of what you talk what you're talking about

5:05 when you speak to your managers and what they're

5:07 shouting across the pitch and all these little

5:09 like little things that you don't see on TV.

5:12 That's the cool stuff, you know, especially as a as an athlete.

5:14 There's so much stuff that we talk about

5:16 and do behind the scenes that no one sees.

5:18 That's the stuff that actually people want to know about.

5:20 So, uh the more I get to hear about it, the more I see it,

5:23 the more I will kind of want to get involved in it.

5:25 Quickly, what position would you be?

5:27 I used to be winger in when I played rugby mainly cuz I was away from everyone.

5:30 I think you're a creative little number 10.

5:32 You're not a striker.

5:32 Yeah.

5:33 Okay, interesting.

5:34 10.

5:34 I'll do it.

5:35 I'll do it.

5:35 And and do you think you could get in an F1 car?

5:37 [laughter] No chance.

5:39 I think today's taken it to like a whole new

5:41 level for me like watching it on TV is one thing,

5:45 but then getting in the sim and actually

5:46 having that experience of half feeling what it's like.

5:50 First of all the nerves.

5:51 It's like what it's like being in that tight

5:53 little compact area and then to drive at the pace

5:56 you do and then like with the people around you

5:58 and obviously your life's on the line in a way.

6:01 Like you're driving at such a speed.

6:03 It's it's crazy and to see how it all works

6:06 is for me today has been a such an experience.

6:08 Honestly, it's been incredible.

6:09 Cuz the one thing I found like I guess you were nervous today driving.

6:13 I went on at Wembley like walking out onto the pitch.

6:16 I was like man, I'm pretty nervous here.

6:18 It's weird how you know, you get so comfortable at your own sport even though

6:21 it's in front of the world and it's cameras everywhere.

6:24 Like you get very comfortable on doing your own thing.

6:26 But then as soon as you step out of that zone

6:28 even though it's pretty similar like you just It's different.

6:32 You're breaking it, you know.

6:32 So it's it's um it's cool to get to try something different.

6:35 Well guys, thank you very much for the chat.

6:37 I hope you've learned a lot from each other.

6:38 Have you?

6:39 100%.

6:40 Thanks for coming along.

6:41 No, thank you for having me.

6:42 It's been unbelievable.

6:42 The only thing we have to do now is get a golf game in.

6:45 I know, we've been talking about it.

6:46 The most important thing after today is getting a golf game in.

6:48 Or paddle.

6:49 You both play paddle, don't you?

6:50 I don't mind paddle, but I'd rather play golf.

6:52 Golf's golf.

6:52 Nothing Nothing beats a game of golf and yeah, an Arnold Palmer after.

6:58 [laughter] Good luck, guys.

6:58 Thank you very much.

6:59 Cheers.

6:59 Thank you.