British female fan of Norris won... McLaren

      Rebecca Francis, at 62, remains a passionate Formula 1 fan and feels particularly fond of McLaren driver Lando Norris. Perhaps that’s why she decided, for the first time in her life, to take part in a charity raffle in which one of the main prizes was a McLaren Artura Spider sports car.

      And she really got lucky: having bought a ticket for £10, she won a car worth a quarter of a million — this story was reported by The London Standard.

      Miss Francis, who became a grandmother for the second time this year, lives in the provincial town of Ascot in the county of Berkshire — incidentally, the world‑famous Royal Ascot horse races are held there every year. And it’s only a half‑hour drive from there to the McLaren team’s base, her favourite team.

      When Rebecca Francis took her new sky‑blue car for a spin and got her first impressions, she said, “I felt the same sensations that Lando Norris is familiar with. Although I’m standing next to this car, I still can’t believe it — everything that’s happening is just incredible!

      You can call me a real fan, I love Formula 1, and fast cars fascinate me.”

      The raffle organisers turned the prize handover into a whole show, inviting Tessa Whitlock, a drifting master and professional Hollywood stuntwoman, who demonstrated the McLaren sports car’s capabilities to Miss Francis.

      “Never in my life have I felt anything like this, and now I felt like Max Verstappen… No, rather Lando Norris, because I was in a McLaren!” the paper quotes Rebecca’s enthusiastic comments.

      The intense sensations were, of course, helped by the fact that this version of the McLaren is open‑top and accelerates to 100 km/h in three seconds. The only thing is that the lucky owner does not plan to keep this wonderful car; she intends to sell it because her family needs the money much more. But that’s another story…