Norris visited Valentino Rossi's team in Italy.

      At one point Lando Norris said in an interview: "Who knows, if I hadn't rooted for Valentino Rossi and hadn't started riding motorcycles, maybe I wouldn't have gone into motorsport at all, or that interest would have come later..."

      He met the legendary Italian motorcycle racer, a nine-time world champion, in 2021, and since then they have developed a friendly relationship. Their latest meeting took place this past weekend in Misano — the San Marino Grand Prix, the 16th round of the MotoGP season, was being held at the Italian circuit. Afterward the McLaren driver shared several photos on social media, commenting: "Anyone who said you shouldn't meet your idols in person has certainly never met Vale!"

      Norris is a passionate MotoGP fan and, after the race in Monza where he finished 2nd, visited Aprilia's factory in Noale, where, among other things, the RS-GP racing motorcycles are built. In 2025 the Spaniard Jorge Martín, the reigning world champion, is competing for Aprilia Racing on one of those bikes.

      Norris also spoke with him, but it seems he was most impressed by his visit to the VR46 Racing Team base — the team owned by Rossi. Its riders compete in MotoGP on motorcycles from another Italian marque — Ducati.

      It's worth remembering that Lando once styled his helmet in honor of "Vale," and its yellow color is also a tribute to Rossi's successes in MotoGP.

      The 46-year-old Italian racer fairly often appears in the Formula 1 paddock when he has free time, which he actually doesn't have much of, because Rossi continues his career in endurance racing, competing for Team WRT driving a BMW M4 GT3.