'what are we doing here?'

🗣️: “you obviously love golf. when did you first pick up a golf club and what can you remember from getting into golf?”

lando: “when i first picked up a golf club, carlos forced me to pick up a golf club, i think. it must've been 2020. yeah, 2020 or 21. so when we would be in for, i don't know, sim or marketing days, we both lived close by to the factory. we'd be there for loads of days. so we would have to find things to do and golf became one of them. carlos was already a golfer at that point. but it was also nice, like me and my mates, we'd go to topgolf and normally you just try and hit it as far as you can. but at that point, i also thought like, who the hell wants to play golf? you know, i was one of those guys. like, what is that sport? little did i know, it's one of the coolest, like, most mentally frustrating and rewarding sports i think you can play in the world.

i don't know, like, if golf comes naturally to anyone. i guess maybe it does. i don't know enough people that kind of do it that started but it's quite- i don't know, it's quite an abnormal movement and things. i think it's a weird sport but it definitely didn't come that natural to me, that's for sure. i was one of those guys that were, you know, the harder you try and hit it the bigger the miss. you don't even hit the ball, so. no, i had to graph. 

but that's one of the cool things about that kind of sport, you know, is you can hit 100 balls, try to and you could try again, try again, try again and you can have that kind of constant improvement, trying to have that constant improvement. with racing, you can't just go and race every day. but with the golf, you can pick up a golf club every day, you can go and hit some balls and that's like a cool thing to be able to go do. 

honestly, i think, i mean, everyone has to be nervous. when you're on the first tee box, especially if you've got people there, if the tee box is near like the clubhouse or something and people are there saying, that's an intimidating place to be. but i do because i think anything i do, like i care about it and want to do well in, it's like with most things. like, you try it a couple of times, you feel bad about it. then when you come and you try and do it a few more times, you kind of start to get the hang of it. so i think with every sport, you get a bit intimidated at the beginning. when you hit that one ball that just flies, then it's one of the coolest things. 

the constant strive for perfection, whether it's lap or it's 18 holes. every shot is the same as almost every corner. you kind of have an attempt at trying to do something perfect. you then have a little break, a little straight, and then you try and do it again. and you're trying to learn from what you just did, and you're trying to improve it within a matter of seconds or minutes in golf. 

so i think the mentality side of understanding very quickly what you just did, how to improve it, and then applying that pretty much directly is one of the things that carries over it. but then also just the competition side. like, i don't play golf just to hit the ball. i do it because i want to try to be good, i want to beat my best goal, i want to beat my mates. so i think if i didn't have that competition side, which is the thing that really feeds you the most, then i probably wouldn't do it. so i love the competition, probably more than anything. 

there's not many things better than just being out here on the golf course. it's peaceful, it's quiet. you can be with your friends, you can listen to some music, you can just have a nice relaxing day, the birds are singing. 

what else do i do? i mean, i love obviously paddle as well. again, that's with my friends. otherwise i just like to be with my mates, my family, go away to some place nice places and go explore and be on the beach, things like that. i think that's what like is the most most relaxing. otherwise when i can't go and travel and do those beautiful things and i like to just be at home and just have the peace and quiet.