Lando Norris' fandom for Valentino Rossi is well-known and now he has spoken about how that began.

The McLaren driver had the chance to meet his idol last year as he visited the British round of the MotoGP championship at Silverstone.

Norris himself then paid tribute to Rossi with a special helmet (and bucket hat) at the Italian GP at Monza. 

“I started watching Valentino before I started watching Formula 1 when I was like four years old," he said via Crash.net.

"He was the first guy I watched in any sort of racing, whether it was cars, rallying, bikes or whatever.

“He was the guy who when I was such a young kid, I looked up to and I dreamt of being like him in many ways. There are still things and characteristics that maybe I have which are similar to him, like my helmet design and the colours and just things I like to do.

“He was the guy that inspired me to be who I am today."

“I’ve loved racing. As soon as I saw it once, I loved it. I watched MotoGP first of all. I then just got into a bit of all-round racing, whether it was Formula 1, rallying, GT cars, whatever. I just loved motorsports," the 20-year-old explained.

“The first time I got to go and watch a race was when I was around six or seven, which was a go-kart race, and then I got my first go-kart because all I wanted to do was have a go, and that’s how it all started.”