'I missed him growing up' - Canada News Beep

Lando Norris’s emotional Formula 1 world championship win at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix was matched only by the warm and moving reaction from the person who has seen the whole journey up close: his mother, Cisca Wauman.

Speaking on Sky Sports F1 from within the Yas Marina paddock after Norris secured his first title, Wauman admitted that the work to achieve such a thing certainly came with its sacrifices.

“Emotionally drained, but very happy,” she said when asked how she was feeling. “Very happy for the family, for the team, McLaren, the fans, because they’ve been always there.”

The mother, emotional from the race that saw her son finish the 2025 season at the top of the drivers’ standings, reflected on how the family had helped the McLaren driver achieve his dream.

“A lot of sacrifices, yeah,” she explained. “When Lando was seven, he started karting. By the time he was eight, he was competing together with his brother, Ollie, and it took the two boys one direction and the two girls I have, the other direction.

“So I missed Lando and Ollie, seeing them grow up, you know, as a kid. Suddenly, playing with a tractor, naked in the garden, was done. It was done. And I miss that, you know, but I mean, this is amazing. This is fantastic.”

The tension leading to this moment had been building since the previous weekend in Qatar, where Norris missed the chance to secure the championship one race ahead of the finale. How did Norris’s mum spend her time between races?

Watch: F1 Update: Norris resists Verstappen’s pressure for F1 world title, changes coming up at Red Bull?

“It was very simple. We flew home, back to England. I did a bit of washing. I worked in the garden and on Wednesday, I went to see the nativity play from my grandchild. And on Thursday, we went back on the plane. So it was a very confusing week, a very short week. But those last laps, they took ages.”

Even as the laps counted down, Wauman’s heart rate failed to slow, and 10 laps from the end of the race – still plenty of time for something to go wrong – she and her family were called to ready themselves for the celebrations.

“How can they call us down getting ready for this? Here we are,” she said, smiling.

“And hearts always, always all over the place,” she ended.

Photos from Abu Dhabi GP – Race