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Held in late January, before most major championships have even begun, the Daytona 24 Hours has long attracted big-name drivers. In 2018, Fernando Alonso and Lando Norris were among them.
At first glance, Lando Norris’s appearance looked like a curiosity: an 18-year-old fresh from winning the FIA Formula 3 title sharing a United Autosports LMP2 with a double Formula 1 world champion.
In reality, it became one of the earliest high-pressure validations of Norris’s elite potential.
An idea that became a benchmark
The entry itself was informal in intent but significant in consequence. Zak Brown’s decision to pair Norris with Alonso was not framed as an audition, yet it created exactly that environment.
“Putting Fernando and Lando together at Daytona was Zak’s idea,” United Autosports co-owner Richard Dean explains.
“Fernando was with McLaren at the time, and Zak kept telling me: ‘You know, Fernando is a racer. He’s always talking about endurance racing and Le Mans.’
"That’s complicated because of the calendar, but this time he came to me talking about Daytona.”
The idea escalated quickly.
“We were just about to put an entry together and Zak said, ‘Let’s put Lando in the car as well,’” Dean continues.
“I’d been watching Lando since he was karting, winning a world championship at 14, so I was a huge fan. It was one of those ideas where you think, ‘Surely not’ - and then it happened.
“I think we did a seat fit and a shakedown - and then we were straight into Daytona.”
Immediate credibility
“When Richard told me I’d be their race engineer, I had mixed feelings,” recalls race engineer Gautier Bouteiller. “You’re being offered an incredible opportunity, but there’s also pressure, because you know you have to live up to drivers who are inevitably very demanding.”
While Norris appeared the quicker of the two in free practice, qualifying duties were handed to Alonso – aura obliges – at the wheel of a Ligier that had no realistic chance of challenging the DPi cars at the front.
“We were the only Ligier on the grid,” Dean recalls. “But we were quick. And we led the race.”
Those eight laps at the front came in worsening conditions, with Norris at the wheel.
“When it started raining it became very difficult,” Norris said at the time. “Initially I was told it wouldn’t rain for long, but then it got heavier and the conditions became tricky.
"I made up ground, but I had no idea what position I was in. I certainly didn’t think I was anywhere near P1. It was a really cool stint and very enjoyable.”
Cruelly, just after 10pm, the #23 car suffered a right-rear puncture. The damage forced a rear deck and tail change, with Alonso rejoining 11th – but already more than three laps down on the leader.
Flat-out by instinct
United Autosports’ Ligier JS P217 was already an inferior package compared to the Oreca 07s, and overall victory was never realistic against the DPi field, yet Norris still set the fastest race lap in LMP2 and consistently matched Alonso across comparable stints.
“They were relentless,” Dean laughs. “I was going to say ruthless, but let’s say relentless in their pursuit of the last hundredth of a second.
"They were analysing everything the other was doing. Every time one got out of the car, they’d raise the bar – and the other would match it and push it even further.
"So it was a flat-out sprint every time they were in the car for every sector.”
That relentlessness extended to mindset, according to Bouteiller.
“In the rain, I told Lando to be careful,” Bouteiller recalls. “He replied that he was already driving with his elbows out.
"Honestly, both of them were just pushing, without asking too many questions. It was impressive, but the car paid the price.”
Late braking, aggressive kerb usage… At 1am, Alonso suffered a long brake pedal, requiring a brake master cylinder change. Norris returned to the car in 16th in class, 25 laps down after a 40-minute garage stop.
Norris, a star in the making
For United Autosports, the comparison was unavoidable - and revealing.
“I’d like to say I knew it when I was watching him at 14 or 15,” Dean said. “But you never really know how a driver will step up to a new challenge, a new category. IMSA rules, an LMP2 car… and we barely tested.
“There was nothing between the two of them. And we all knew there’s nobody who extracts more from a car than Fernando. So when Lando was matching him, it confirmed everything we thought might be possible.”
That impression extended to Alonso himself, who described Norris as “young, but impressively mature and well prepared.”
“With Fernando, we all knew what he would bring,” Bouteiller adds. “But Lando was still very young. He was a McLaren junior, but still. And during that week, we realised very quickly how high his ceiling was.
“I remember calling my mum during the week. She knows nothing about motorsport. I told her: ‘There’s this kid, if a good team gives him a chance in Formula 1 he could become world champion.’”
A defining race
Norris would go on to finish runner-up in Formula 2 later that year, but Daytona provided something results alone could not: contextual proof.
“This was a big contribution to the decision-making process around Lando’s career, because he went up against Fernando,” McLaren Racing CEO Brown tells The Race.
“He was every bit as quick as Fernando and I think Fernando is one of the greatest racing drivers of all time. New car for everyone, new track for everyone, and he [Norris] was right there with him.
Brown is careful not to frame Daytona as a single decisive audition, but its impact was clear.
“It was part of the decision-making process, definitely,” he adds. “Just to see that natural talent, under pressure, up against Fernando. He was amazing.”
Norris would debut in Formula 1 with McLaren in 2019. From the outside, Daytona 2018 has largely faded into the background of his career narrative. Internally, it has not.
“He loved the race,” Brown adds. “And he wants to come back.”
With McLaren set to enter the WEC in 2027 and potentially IMSA from 2028, that opportunity may yet present itself again - this time with machinery capable of fighting for overall victory.
If Norris jumps at the chance he could yet become the first F1 world champion to win the Florida classic since his former teammate Fernando Alonso, who returned in 2019 to win with Cadillac.
“It was fun,” Dean concludes. “I wish we could do it again. Yeah, it would be nice.”
