McLaren driver Lando Norris has unveiled a new clothing collection ahead of the United States Grand Prix, drawing inspiration from 1970s racing garages. To present the range, he converted an old Austin fuel station into a pop-up showroom.
Lando’s Original Service Department comprises 12 pieces from his LN4 brand, including workwear-inspired clothing, T-shirts and unisex caps. The pop-up is located at 1500 San Jacinto Boulevard in downtown Austin and is open from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Thursday through Sunday.
The venue opened on Wednesday. Visitors can also have custom postcards or patches made through a collaboration with McLaren sponsor Google Gemini.
Norris’s other brand, Quadrant, also staged a pop-up in Austin earlier in the week.
The launch gives the British driver a distraction during a challenging title defence. The reigning world champion sits sixth in the standings on 201 points, 139 behind leader Kimi Antonelli, and has described his McLaren as “mentally draining” to drive. McLaren, the defending constructors’ champion, is third in the standings, seven points ahead of a resurgent Red Bull.
“It’s just on a knife edge at every corner,” Norris said after the Singapore race. “You have to drive the car to an exact standard and force it in every way. You cannot let the car do the work, whether at the front or the rear.
Lando Norris, McLaren
Photo by: Sam Bagnall / Sutton Images via Getty Images
“You have to force the front, you got to force the rear, and you have to drive it in a way that takes so much concentration and ability. It’s full on and mentally draining because of how hard you have to work behind the wheel. That makes it so difficult to put laps together in qualifying, which shows how well we did when we secured pole and how rewarding that felt.
“But the car isn’t quick enough now, so it’s simply too difficult. You can’t work any magic because you’re not fast enough. You have to force the car and can’t let it do the work on its own, and that isn’t what you want from a car at all.”
