The Real-Life Diet of F1 Phenom Lando Norris, Who Won’t Even Get Near Seafood

The 25-year-old McLaren driver Lando Norris is currently ranked second in the 2024 F1 season's overall standings, trailing behind only Red Bull Racing’s Belgian-Dutch driver Max Verstappen. There are only three races left in the season, including this weekend’s Las Vegas Grand Prix, and Norris has got an outside shot at taking the lead. That's the kind of performance that earned him his current 4-year, $100 million contract. But the British and Belgian national does not seem to splurge much when it comes to his meals. One of his favorite post-race replenishments is a chicken burger. He does not want anything to do with a seafood tower. But that's not to say he's immune to his senses: He recently partnered with Ralph Lauren to be a face of the company’s revitalized Polo Red fragrance, which first launched in 2013.

Last year, when Norris spoke to GQ, he anticipated that his chances of winning a championship title might arrive in 2024, or possibly 2025. Either way, he said, it’ll only happen if he’s at “the absolute top of my game.” A year later, GQ caught up with the nicest guy in F1 to hear how he got there—he told us about overnight oats, his driver-specific physical training, and the power of a running group chat.

For Real-Life Diet, GQ talks to athletes, celebrities, and other high performers about their diet, exercise routines, and pursuit of wellness. Keep in mind that what works for them might not necessarily be healthy for you.

Lando Norris: I have two different typical days. One is my at-racetrack-day, one is my at home day. Which one would you want to know?

Okay, so my at home day is normally very simple: an overnight oats breakfast. I'm lazy with some of my stuff, so it's easy to do a bigger batch and have enough for a few days. Sometimes just my own scrambled eggs or poached eggs. I love eggs, so that's an easy one for me to do.

Lunch, when I'm at home, normally is just a simple salad. There's a couple places nearby where I live, where you go in, you can just make your own salad. And for me, again, just very easy. Whether I've been out on a run or I'm going traveling or something, or I'm going out to play golf, either I can eat there, or I can just take it away, or I can even make a couple and save one for later or save one for the next day. But a nice chicken salad normally is my go-to.

On race weekends, my lunch normally is nothing too fancy. I'm not a big eater normally across race weekend itself. But my breakfast? It’s normally a poached egg on toast with avocado, potentially a little yogurt with muesli, or some oats and berries on the side. And lunch is normally just a chicken wrap. Chicken wraps have been my thing since the last six years. It's even more like they're something I've always been able to have, something that's very easy for me to have, and can get a lot of good stuff inside the chicken wrap to mix around with it. But for me it’s a must.

And for dinners: a bit more free. Dinners are normally, let's say, my cheat meal kind of times. When I'm at home, normally I would go out with my friends, and I'll go to restaurants and stuff like that. The only thing I really have to avoid, because I hate it, is any seafood or shell-based food. Basically anything under the sea is a big no-no, and I cannot even get near so that's like the biggest “No.”

Normally it's Italian. Italian is my favorite cuisine, I would say pasta, pizza, that kind of thing is my go-to. Race weekends—not something too heavy, but it can be even like a small chicken burger. Maybe some more wraps, but really not a lot. I'll never have a big meal or a big evening meal on a race weekend. It's normally kept to smaller quantities, but the bit more often of snacks and bars and that kind of thing. I never have a big lunch or a big breakfast or a big dinner.

The most important thing that the driver needs is endurance. So whether that's cycling or running, I fluctuate with what I prefer, but at the minute it's probably running. I have a group chat with my friends where we all put our runs in a group chat to try and keep it competitive and motivate one another to go running, I feel like that helps a lot. So running for me, but it's a 5k, 10k but also, more importantly, I'm running in heat.

Running normally with a hoodie on, thermals on, because the big task of being behind the wheel is it's not always nice and cool, and you're not performing at your optimum body temperature. You're normally over. So doing your runs, or maybe cycling inside with your hoodie with the heaters on—that kind of thing, just to get your body acclimatizing and trying to getting as used to that as possible.

The neck is probably the biggest thing, I would say. For you, in a car, straight away, the thing you would struggle with most is your neck, because it's the thing that gets used the least in normal life, but it's the thing that's almost used the most, and the only thing that's really not supported when you're in a race car. So a lot of neck work to try and improve on these things, and that includes core, glutes, all of these kind of things tie in together, and then it's just mobility and just stretching a lot, because the last thing we can ever do is have an injury because of tightness and things like that, especially post-race. Keeping on top of that is very important. So neck, cardio endurance, heat training, and then the the core, glutes, mobility are probably the main things.

It depends where we are in season. Often it's better that I almost don't do anything for two or three days between races and more just stretching is what I would do. But when there's a longer break, when we're off for three three and a half weeks, I would probably say—probably not every day, but at least every other day. It might be that you do two days and then two days off, or one day on, one day off. But normally during the season, because we do 24 races in quite a short amount of time, we can stay in the rhythm of it, and you keep your body in it. But as soon as you have a bit too long of a break, keeping on top of neck is quite important, and the cardio side of things as well. So I would say, at least every other day.

Yeah. I mean, we're getting so sweaty so often, [laughs] whether you're training or driving or, you know, when I'm at the factory, we're on the simulator a lot, the must that I always have the team do is make sure that there's either like an aftershave or a fragrance or deodorant. I think it's such a simple thing, but it's something that is also your personality, but it also you just never want to smell bad, right? it's a basic thing in life. I think it's a normal hygiene thing in life, and it's just always a nice thing, and it gives you good confidence when you know you're smelling good. So I would say, since I started driving and racing, because you normally just sweating and hard and so much you always want to be making sure you're smelling good.

Apart from the fact that I was part of the whole thing, I don't like things being generally too overpowering and too strong. I like probably a little bit more a lighter side. So a couple of the main things that we have are the grapefruit, the red grapefruit, this is a bit more like a fun, joyful part of it. And then you have the mixture of this with the the sage, the woods, the coffee, which gives it the slightly heavier, darker side of it. it's a good mix of not too overpowering, not overkill. When you're doing sports and stuff like that, it's the perfect thing.

The main thing is normally time alone. Quietness, which is not always an easy thing to find on a race weekend, especially before the race—just that peace and tranquility. My main thing is always to fist-bump my team on the grid. That's like my thing that I do, because they're just as much part of my race, with the pit stops, and they're the guys who build my car every weekend. They're just as much on board with me as I am being the one that's actually driving the car. And I'm not just saying it because this is the interview—this is what it's based upon. But normally, I always give a few puffs of the fragrance that I have before I go out and do the racing. This is something I normally do through the whole weekend. But again, it's such a simple thing. But before I go out on Sunday just to give that little bit more confidence booster, and just like, “I've got it, and I know what I need to think of, I can focus on my race is,” normally, a quick spray of a fragrance and making sure I'm smelling good, not because I necessarily just know I want to be smelling good and everyone's going to be smelling me or something, but it's just more like a mental thing of just a bit of confidence and, with racing and when so much stuff's going on, little things along the way can help you be in the right mindset and make sure you're ready to go out and do what you got to do, and not letting bad thoughts get in the way.

Little things like this can make a difference. And it might be a personal thing. It might not be something that everyone does, or maybe no one does, but there's little things that everyone finds that works for them and doesn't work for them, but for me, this is a little thing that just helps me, like, “OK, game time.”

I would say so. At times, if something's happened that's out of my control, that's normally when those times occur. The main thing is just to always have the belief and the faith of that I just I have what it takes. So there's no reason for me if something's out of my control, trying to tell yourself, just the simple one of "that's life, and you just have to make the best of what you got." But there's always also those times when someone's driving a bit quicker. But he's only another person. He's only another human. And if he's able to do it, there's a good chance that I'm able to do it also. I forget those things sometimes. Instead of just kind of going, "Damn, he's quicker" and that's it, it's a, "Damn. He's quicker than here. What else could he be doing? And what else can I try?"

I don't want to just say the simple thing of "not giving up," because I think that's an expected and normal answer, and to too general but more like, "if he can do it, I can do it" mentality and just trying to stick to that, and having the faith in myself, which I lose and I don't always have. Sometimes I'm like, "Damn, he's just quicker." But trying to remind myself as much as I can of "if he's doing it, there's a good chance that I can do it too."

They’re a partner, but from a hydration point of view, normally straight after the race, especially if it's the podium, I would treat myself a bit with a Coke. I genuinely don't think there are many things better in life than when you're hot and sweaty and you need a bit of energy, than a nice cold, cold Coke.

At the same time, I have a love for my Monster Energy, which is probably not the best thing to be having straight up the race, which is not long before bed. But sometimes you're so just drained and dead after races, you need something that really is going to pick you back up and get you kicking again. And normally a good Monster energy is one of those things that can that can help me out.

And a chicken burger. Chicken burgers, they're my post race meals: a load of mayo, sweet potato chips or sweet potato fries and pancakes. A little bit of a cheat, pancakes—it can even be with berries or sometimes a jam or Nutella or something like that. But after a long race, especially one like Singapore or Austin, which is super hot, it's good to get that energy back in and get your body functioning again.

To get one? I don't know. Normally, we have our own team and our own chefs at the track that supply for the whole team. So normally they do it. But they also normally change how they do it, depending on where we are around the world. And I would say normally, like Asian-based places. If we go to Singapore or Japan or China, When there's a bit of spices and things like that, I see normally that's like a more of an exciting one, and normally makes it pop a little bit more. The amazing guys and girls we have that cook our food, they normally try and add the local-esque to it.