Watch: Lando Norris is the guest of honor for Ducati as the Italian MotoGP team welcomes the McLaren driver in the paddock

McLaren F1 driver Lando Norris was the guest of honor at Ducati at the San Marino Grand Prix in Italy. The Brit was seen talking with two-time MotoGP champion Francesco Bagnaia, along with key members of the Italian team at their home race.

Norris was fond of MotoGP when he was a kid. While he did not reach the pinnacle of two-wheel racing, his other dream of becoming an F1 driver was fulfilled.

Norris had never gone to a MotoGP race weekend before he became an F1 driver, a bucketlist item he checked off in 2021, when he saw the 2021 British Motorcycle Grand Prix.

So, his love for MotoGP and bikes had been there for a long time, making his visit to the San Marino GP paddock even special as he got the opportunity to become the guest of honor at Ducati, the prevailing champions in the series. He met various members of the Italian squad, which could be seen in the following clip:

On the other hand, Lando Norris' favorite MotoGP driver also used to race for the Italian squad, i.e., Valentino Rossi.

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Lando Norris once shared his glaring admiration for MotoGP legend Valentino Rossi

Valentino Rossi and Lando Norris at the 2025 MotoGP of San Marino race weekend - Source: Getty

While Valentino Rossi is remembered for his years of racing at Yamaha and Honda, he also had a brief stint with Ducati between 2011-12. With Rossi being Lando Norris' favorite driver, the latter used to highly regard the Italian for his impressive racing career.

Talking about his admiration for Valentino Rossi back in 2023, the McLaren driver told F1's official website:

"It’s weird, I still remember myself being so young, watching Valentino on TV, and there he was competing – a bit like in Formula 1 when I was watching Lewis Hamilton or Fernando Alonso racing and now I’m on the same grid as them and racing against them."

"Meeting Valentino was really cool; I was mainly there just to meet him, and it was an honour. He was the guy I looked up to and who got me into racing in the first place: who knows, maybe if I didn’t follow Valentino, and then get into motorbikes, maybe I wouldn’t have got into motorsport, or maybe that interest would have been delayed."

On the other hand, in the F1 realm, racing will return in the coming week as the paddock will take to the Azerbaijan GP. Lando Norris would be hoping to return to the top step of the podium after being away from the gold medal since the Hungarian GP.

He has eight race weekends to claw down his deficit to Oscar Piastri in the drivers' standings; otherwise, the Aussie driver would claim his maiden drivers' title as he currently has a 31-point advantage.