On May 8, Yu Hupu, F1 world champion Lando Norris, Arsenal, and England midfielder Declan Rice were interviewed by BBC host Betty Glover.
Betty said: Hey guys, I really appreciate you coming to join my show. Declan, you visited that place. You seem extremely impressed, right?
Declan Rice said, to be honest, this situation is beyond imagination and extremely shocking. Obviously, there was something special about being able to meet Lando and then be shown around the place and explore what happened.
Betty: I heard you got into the simulator. How's he driving, Lando?
Lando Norris, he's getting better. (Laughter) He has to have a starting point, right? He didn't know about Silverstone at first. I mean, after he learned it, he made some pretty remarkable progress. Until finally, you run really well on the last lap.
Declan Rice: Yes. 1 minute and 37 seconds. Not a bad lap.
Lando-Norris objected because he claimed that he would be able to catch up with him in a few more laps, so he could catch up…not to mention that he did not use his full strength at all. To be honest, it was Lando.
Betty said, of course, as the defending world champion, you won the championship battle. Declan, you are currently in a championship battle and hope to win the Premier League championship. What advice do you have for him?
Declan Rice: Give me some advice. Give me some advice. Give me some advice.
Lando Norris said, well, what's the main thing? What I mean is that I feel confident in myself and the team. I wouldn't have said those same words a year ago, but it's one of the many things I've learned: Go out there and enjoy the game. That's right. As long as you are truly prepared, you can maintain a calm and relaxed state. But I don't know. I'm not trying to give advice.
Declan Rice said that's not the case, but that's good because you think there are a lot of small losses before you get the big win, which is what I experienced firsthand. I won a trophy at West Ham United and obviously I haven't done that at Arsenal yet, but we are working towards that goal and it will come one day, you just have to keep pushing forward. The key is to keep the team together, support each other, treat each other sincerely, and keep morale high at all times, you know? But it was really nice to see this.
Betty: You two have reached the top level in your respective fields at such a young age. In terms of the journey you have taken along the way to achieve what you are today, do you think there are any similarities?
Lando Norris said, "Obviously, this is still a very different sport, right?" However, I feel that in the role of an athlete, in terms of understanding how to achieve the best state for the sport you are engaged in, in terms of understanding what drives you to keep moving forward and what motivates you, the situation is different for everyone, but there is a certain degree of similarity.
It’s about the team around me, my personal team, and everything is connected to that for me. They help me, and I help them. In this situation, there is a force that keeps me in the best position, constantly optimizing me, and at the same time, this force tries to make me enjoy the game.
It's a simple thing, everyone says it all the time, but for me it's a very positive spin that I have to put myself in: the better I perform, the more I enjoy it, the more I experience the enjoyment, the more I want to work hard at it. Ultimately, it's all about finding the benefits of finding those little things.
That's true for us, and maybe it's true for football too. It's those little things that sometimes you don't think about at all, but when you add up 20 different little things, when you're in that last race, that last Grand Prix, that last lap, it helps you. So it is very important for me to have a great team around me.
However, it is also important to understand what is appropriate for you as an individual. When you step onto the court or track, what is the best thing that gets you into that state? What is it that best differentiates you from your opponents? These require experience and time for you to learn.
There are no shortcuts. You can't say, "Oh, this guy did this, so I'm going to copy him." That doesn't always work, you know? So you have to explore things, you have to try, you have to fail, because you always gain the most from the moments when you strive and fail.
Betty: Do you agree with that?
Declan Rice: He answered all the questions in the most perfect way.
Betty: That's nice, isn't it?
Declan Rice agrees that he felt it was mostly about taking advantage of every tiny little margin you could get, and now he's seeing more in football about how the game evolves and how you, as an individual, improve year after year with those little obvious advantages.
What I've noticed in myself, and what I've noticed in my team, is that the question is, how does the team around you want to be better, how eager are you to win, how much do you want to win, and because of this awareness that we try to continuously improve ourselves year by year, so, as I said, the real positive things are really approaching, yes, hopefully approaching.
Betty: How do you cope with having to perform at the highest level all the time?
Declan Rice collected his thoughts, and then said slowly: I think, if you have started the process of doing this since you were a child, you know in your heart that this is how you can make a living, you love it from the bottom of your heart, and you enjoy it with all your heart. When you really go out, on some level, it seems to have become an almost instinctive second nature!
The beautiful thing about football is that, like in F1, if I don't play well, I'm mature enough now to understand that. I don't need to be told that I didn't play well, I'm the first to know that I didn't play well, but the beauty is that you can always have another game a few days later to make up for it.
You'll have another game, something like this. So, I think this is how I can keep my mind calm.
Betty: So what do you think about each other's movements? Lando, do you like football?
Lando Norris said that he has a passion for football. He participated in many sports when he was a child. Football was his favorite sport that was not racing. The main reason was that he was short in stature at the time. When he participated in rugby, he was beaten all day long. This did not suit him. (Laughter) This did not suit him. However, he loved football. The sport he participated in most as a child was football.
Obviously, after I really devoted myself to racing, I gradually distanced myself from it. However, this is a sport that brings everyone together. Hey, you know, it's kind of cool to be able to watch the game. As I said, I've become estranged from it, but as a kid I would collect magazines like Game of Thrones and stuff like that, which I loved.
I also watch a lot of games and all that stuff. However, it was not until recently that I started to observe some events to feel the atmosphere, the feeling, and the atmosphere.
After talking to Declan today, knowing those cool behind-the-scenes moments, like what you say when you talk to the head coach, what they shout across the field, all those little things that you don't see on TV, that's the cool thing, you know, especially as an athlete.
There are things we talk about behind the scenes, there are things we do behind the scenes that no one sees, and that's what people really want to know, and the more I hear about it, the more I see about it, the more I want to be a part of it.
Betty: Quick question, what position do you play?
Lando Norris: I was a tight end when I played rugby. Mainly because I stay away from…
Declan Rice: I imagine you're a creative No. 10 or forward.
Lando Norris: Yes. All right. Position 10. I'll give it a try. I'll give it a try.
Betty: So do you think you can drive an F1 car? (laughter)
Declan Rice said, no way, he thought he took it to a completely new level today. Watching it on TV is one thing, but entering the simulator and actually experiencing the feeling, the first thing you feel is nervousness.
How does it feel to put yourself in that small space, and then to drive at that speed, and there are other people around you, and your life is on the line to a certain extent, but you are actually driving quite fast. It's really crazy. Seeing how everything works here is undoubtedly such a precious experience for me today.
To be honest, this is beyond imagination, and the reason is that one of the things I noticed is that I think you were also in a nervous state when you were driving today. I get nervous walking into Wembley Stadium. I thought to myself, hey, I'm nervous here.
What's strange is that you become extremely comfortable doing your own sport, even if it's in front of the whole world and there are cameras everywhere, but you still become extremely comfortable doing your own thing. But once you step out of that comfort zone, even if the two are very similar, you will mess things up. Did you know that? So it's cool to try something different.