The £100m Somerset public schoolboy with no GCSEs (but a string of glamorous ... trends now

Lando Norris was just five when his parents sold the red plastic quad bike he adored. 'They didn't tell me,' he later recounted. 'I just came back from school one day and it was gone. There were a lot of tears . . . I really loved that bike.'

He had become an early fan of MotoGP motorcycle racing and his parents were alarmed by the daredevil way he took corners on two wheels.

But if they thought that taking away his quad bike would put an end to his passion for racing, they couldn't have been more wrong, as they no doubt reflected on Sunday when their son took the chequered flag in his first ever Formula One victory.

Whooping with delight, Norris roared across the finish line at the Miami grand prix finally silencing doubters who once questioned his talent.

'Lando No-wins' is just one of the jibes the Bristol-born 24-year-old has endured in the years — and the 109 race starts — which followed his debut as Britain's youngest ever F1 driver, in Australia, in 2019 when he was just 19.

'I never lost faith. I never didn't believe in what I could go out and do,' he said, moments after securing his hard-won maiden F1 victory for McLaren at the end of his 110th race.

He added: 'For me to finally prove those people wrong and prove to people that didn't think I could go out and do it, it's put an even bigger smile on my face today.'

As the son of one of Britain's wealthiest men, who bankrolled his son's early career, it's fair to say that privately-educated Norris felt he had more to prove than most. But if his ascent to grand prix stardom does not share the rags-to-riches arc of fellow British racing driving legend Sir Lewis Hamilton, then it is no less remarkable.

As his proud father Adam said on Sunday, speaking to Sky Sports from his home in Somerset just minutes after his son's historic win: 'It's been a long time coming. Everyone's saying it. It's beautiful. I'm so happy for him. It's been a long journey. The cider's flowing in Somerset.'

Still not even halfway through his 20s — and without a single GCSE to his name — Norris has a four-year contract with McLaren estimated to be worth £100 million, as well as a £20 million Surrey mansion, not to mention a series of eye-popping luxury brand deals which have seen his handsome boy band-star face plastered on billboards and across the pages of glossy magazines.

If that wasn't enough to be getting on with, off the track he has already launched his own gaming and lifestyle brand, Quadrant, which is said to combine his love for 'gaming, racing, content and apparel'.

Then there's the string of stunning models drawn to his side like moths to a brightly-burning flame. Names linked to Norris, who thanks to his good looks also has the highest rating among female F1 fans, include Portuguese social media star Luisinha Oliveira and Portuguese model and former Chelsea WAG Margarida Corceiro. All in all, then, a British sporting fairy tale.

But while millions tuned in to watch Norris's triumphant win on Sunday, including his father, whose £200 million fortune saw him take 610th position on 2022's Sunday Times Rich List, the one person who may well not have been watching is Lando's mother Cisca who, he says, 'hates' watching him race because of the risks involved.

Ironically, it was his father who was in the racing seat when his parents met in his mother's native Belgium 30 years ago.

Before entering the financial services industry which would see him become one of Britain's richest men, Leicester University engineering graduate Adam spent a year in Europe pursuing a career as a tour cyclist.

He hoped to become a serious competitor in the Tour de France but, while he never made it as a professional, he did find a wife.

They

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