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A Bristol teenager is to replace Stoffel Vandoorne at McLaren next season and become the youngest ever Formula 1 driver.

Lando Norris, 18, has been the team's reserve driver but will now run alongside Renault's Carlos Sainz after Vandoorne announced his departure, while team-mate Fernando Alonso is set to retire.

Lando has been part of the team's young driver programme since 2017 but his impressive times in testing have seen him given the big job.

Speaking to the BBC the current Formula 2 title challenger said: "This is a special moment, one I could only hope would become reality.

"To be announced as a race driver for McLaren is a dream come true.

(Image: Copyright unknown)

"My objective is to win the title before joining McLaren full-time, which will be tough, but I will fight as hard as I can for the remaining four races.

"I'll also be working closely with McLaren at every opportunity to learn as much as possible from the drivers, engineers and mechanics to give myself the best preparation."

But who is Lando Norris? And who is his father Adam Norris?

Born to a wealthy family in Bristol on November 13, 1999, Lando's father is millionaire Adam Norris who made his fortune as a pensions manager.

Retiring at 36 ten years ago as managing director of Pensions Direct and now ploughing millions into start up companies through his firm Horatio Investments, and with a stake in Bristol-based Hargreaves Lansdown, he is one of Bristol's richest people and 501st in the country.

He was keen to encourage his son's interest in racing from an early age which was first in motorbikes before moving to four wheels.

The family moved to Glastonbury when Lando was young so he could become a day boarder and continue his racing career. He was educated at private school Millfield in Somerset.

His career in karting

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He started racing aged seven and quickly became prolific, claiming pole position at his first national event. In 2013 he won the World Karting Championships in Bahrain.

He also won the WSK Euro Series, the CIK-FA Europea, the CIK-FIA Supercup titles as well as the CIK-FIA KF World Championship, thereby making him the youngest karting world championship winner.

The start of his racing career

His debut race was in the Ginetta Junior Championship in which he came third in 2014. The following year he would win the MSA Formula Series.

After stints in numerous series around the world, Lando would join Carlin for the 2017 European Formula 3 Championship, taking the title with a massive 53 point gap on runner up Joel Eriksson.

(Image: Getty Images Europe)

He also competed and won numerous races in these series:

FIA F3 European Championship

Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0

Formula Renault 2.0 NEC

BRDC British Formula 3 Championship

Toyota Racing Series

BRDC Formula 4 Autumn Trophy

Italian Formula 4 Championship

ADAC Formula 4

And won the title in these competitions

FIA F3 European Championship

Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0

Formula Renault 2.0 NEC

Toyota Racing Series

MSA Formula

(Image: Getty Images Europe)

Awards and achievements

McLaren Autosport BRDC Award 2016

Autosport Awards' British Club Driver of the year 2016

Autosport Awards' National Driver of the year 2017

Joining McLaren

In February 2017 Norris joined as a junior driver for the Formula 1 team and soon became the official test and reserve driver for 2018 F1 season.

After impressing at another of practices, he was announced on September 3 as one of McLaren's for their campaign in the Formula 1 World Championship.

You can find his Twitter account here and his YouTube page here.