McLaren driver and F1 2025 Championship leader Lando Norris has been testing World Rally Championship (WRC) cars in secret, it has been claimed.

It comes almost a year after it emerged that an active Formula 1 star has been testing rally cars away from the grand prix circuit.

Lando Norris ‘unbelievably good’ in secret WRC tests

Additional reporting by Thomas Maher

Peter Windsor, the former Williams team manager, revealed last summer that a mystery Formula 1 driver has been trying out rally cars away from his F1 duties “in massive secrecy” with the unnamed individual impressing on the stages.

The revelation sparked a frantic search to unmask the secret rally tester on the F1 grid, with Red Bull driver and reigning four-time World Champion Max Verstappen immediately ruled out.

Many assumed that Valtteri Bottas, the former Mercedes driver, was the one at the centre of the claims having previously contested the 2019 Arctic Lapland Rally behind the wheel of a Ford Fiesta WRC, the car driven to consecutive titles by rally legend Sebastien Ogier in 2017/18.

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Speaking to media including PlanetF1.com at last year’s Dutch Grand Prix, however, Bottas distanced himself from the rumours and insisted that it was “someone else” involved.

Aston Martin driver Lance Stroll was spotted driving a rally car in the Fafe region of Portugal, home to one of the world’s most famous WRC stages, shortly before the start of F1 2025 pre-season testing in February.

In a fresh update, however, Windsor has revealed that Norris is the mystery driver at the centre of the rumours, revealing the 25-year-old has proven himself to be “unbelievably good” on the stages.

In a recent appearance on the Cameron Cc: YouTube channel, Windsor said: “I know Lando is a serious WRC fan.

“And I hope I’m not giving away too many secrets here when I say I know he’s out in WRC cars and he’s unbelievably good.”

Norris’s McLaren team did not respond to PlanetF1.com’s request for comment.

It is unclear which brand of car Norris has been driving in his secret rally tests with just three manufacturers – Toyota, Hyundai and Ford – currently operating at the highest level of the WRC.

McLaren were linked with a potential Toyota F1 engine deal before the team announced an extension to their customer Mercedes deal until the end of the 2030 season in November 2023.

The relationship between the two brands resulted in Ryo Hirakawa, a member of Toyota’s successful World Endurance Championship operation, being appointed as McLaren’s reserve driver in September 2023.

Hirakawa remained on McLaren’s books last year and made his first F1 practice appearance at the 2024 season finale in Abu Dhabi, where he stepped in for Norris’s McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri.

The 31-year-old recently joined Haas, who announced a landmark technical partnership with Toyota last October, as the team’s reserve driver following a short stint in the same role with the Alpine team.

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With F1 contracts often banning drivers from taking part in dangerous activities, it is also possible that Norris has been participating in WRC tests in a private capacity.

Norris is known to be on good terms with Oliver Solberg, the son of 2003 WRC champion Petter Solberg and the current leader of the WRC2 championship, which is one step below the highest level of rallying.

Solberg is sponsored by Quadrant, the gaming and lifestyle brand founded by Norris.

In a clip uploaded to the Quadrant YouTube channel in 2022, Norris is seen reacting to a series of dramatic rally moments.

At one stage, he says: “That is the coolest thing in the world.”

He later adds: “I would like to have a go in one. I also feel like I would die in one.”

F1 drivers get a taste of rally car racing is nothing new, with Kimi Raikkonen, the 2007 World Champion, famously switching to the WRC after losing his Ferrari F1 seat at the end of 2009.

Raikkonen failed to finish higher than fifth across two seasons in rallying before returning to F1 with the Lotus-Renault team in 2012.

Fernando Alonso, the two-time title winner, also contested the legendary Dakar Rally in 2019 during his two-year F1 sabbatical, flipping his Toyota en route to a distant 13th.

Alonso, who will turn 44 in July, revealed last winter that he is keen to return to the Dakar Rally when his F1 career is over.

The Aston Martin driver also aired his desire to try his hand at more conventional rallying, with Alonso keen to experience the different challenge of working with a co-driver.

Verstappen’s father Jos, who made 106 F1 starts between 1994 and 2003, recently took a class win on his European Rally Championship debut on the day his son took victory in F1’s Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka.

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