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The best athletes study and learn from their peers, not just in their own sports, but across multiple disciplines.

Lando and Oscar are no different. Between them, they’ve already amassed a wealth of success in their nascent careers, but they’re always chasing the next step. It’s that mindset that has characterised sporting greats through the years.

Among the world’s leading, modern-day sports personalities, Lando and Oscar are determined to push for their place amongst history’s elite. In doing so, they’ll watch other sports and take note of how the best operate, envisioning how this can be applied in Formula 1. 

We sat down with them both to discuss the sporting legends whose mindsets and mentality they admire and why, delving into what separates the good from the great.

Bouncing back

Lando and Oscar are both admirers of the National Basketball Association (NBA), while Lando actually holds a personal connection to six-time NBA all-star Jimmy “oh you’re drivin’ drivin’” Butler, having given the 35-year-old a hot lap at the 2019 Canadian Grand Prix.

“Jimmy's a good lad,” Lando says, when asked why he considers Butler to be among the sporting elite. “He's just an all-around good guy, a very nice guy, and he sticks to what he believes in. He doesn't let people around him affect him too much, which I think is a good thing. He's a good friend of mine and just a very cool guy that I look up to… mainly because he's just twice as tall as me!”

It wouldn’t be right to mention the NBA without referencing six-time champion Michael Jordan. One of the most influential and successful athletes of all time, his prodigious ability was enhanced by his total dedication to his pursuit - a trait shared by many of the all-time greats.

“I think this is a very mainstream pick, but for a reason,” Oscar says. “The work ethic that he had, and his mentality of letting nothing stop him in pursuit of trying to be the best in his sport. He was also competing in a team sport, trying to make his team the best it could be.

“He won championships in the NBA, and then he went and played baseball for a couple of years… he then went back to the NBA and was just as good, if not even better.

“To be so committed to one sport your whole life, and then go and play something else and be fully committed to that, and then to come back to basketball and win even more championships, that is a pretty cool story. It isn’t the fact that he went from one sport to another, but the way he did it, and his mentality of trying to be the best at every sport.  

“And everyone knows the ‘Flu Game’ story,” when Jordan led the Chicago Bulls to victory against Utah Jazz with a 38-point haul despite suffering from food poisoning. “That’s pretty cool, too,” Oscar adds. For anyone who doesn’t know, we recommend looking it up, you won’t be disappointed.

Greats on two and four wheels

Lando has made no secret of his admiration for Valentino Rossi, even drawing on the Italian’s helmet designs to create limited-edition versions of his own lid. It was while watching Rossi compete in MotoGP that Lando first caught the racing bug, and the British driver can vividly recall being glued to the television while the nine-time Grand Prix motorcycle racing World Champion racked up title after title.

“Growing up, some of my best moments were watching Rossi,” Lando says. The pair have met before - Rossi even messaged Lando ahead of his final MotoGP race – and caught up at the recent Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, which Rossi attended as a guest. “I still want to have a go on two wheels!

“Rossi was the guy I looked up to when I was a kid. He was my inspiration. I remember plenty of his great races against [Casey] Stoner back in the day, and against [Jorge] Lorenzo at Barcelona - all of them.”

While Lando and Rossi were in different disciplines, another sporting great – and McLaren alumni – that Lando appreciates is now an on-track competitor.

“When I started watching Formula 1, I was supporting Lewis Hamilton,” Lando says. “Lewis was the guy at McLaren, and he was kind of a reason why I got into Formula 1 in the first place."

"Lewis is up there, yeah," Oscar agrees.

“He's pretty good," Lando picks up. "Seven World Championships, over 100 wins – if I get anywhere close to that in my racing career, then I'll be pretty happy!

“It’s not only that, but also what he's done away from the track. It's not easy to accomplish so much away from the track and remain focused on racing. I think he’s set a pretty good standard for what an F1 driver can do.”

Into the Woods

Away from racing, Lando spends much of his spare time honing his craft on the golf course - an interest partially sparked off the back of the Masters of 2019.

The 2019 tournament was stunningly won by Tiger Woods at the age of 43, after a spate of injuries, setbacks and doubts. Even putting his love of golf to one side, it’s a sporting story Lando finds particularly inspiring.

“I think Tiger’s comeback is one of the coolest stories in history,” Lando says. “A lot of people talked him down, and he bounced back, going on to win the Masters when no one thought he would.

“Obviously, he'd been through a lot in his life, a lot of ups and downs, but for him to keep fighting and prove a lot of people wrong, that's a cool story. It’s motivational for a lot of people. It shows that no matter how low and tough things can get, if you get back on the right track, have good people around you, and you're motivated, then you can bounce back from almost anything and do great things.

“At the time, I didn't know a lot about golf. Now I'm one of those guys, so that got me into golf in a way, and now I've started, I love golf - it's probably one of my favourite things to do outside of Formula.”

Making a splash

Winning any medal at the Olympic Games is a tough enough prospect, let alone amassing 28 – of which 23 are gold. That’s exactly what swimmer Michael Phelps achieved across four Summer Olympics, with eight of those gold medals coming in the 2008 Games in Beijing, in which he went undefeated across all disciplines.

“I still remember watching the Olympics where he won eight gold medals,” Oscar says, discussing what separated Phelps from the competition. “He won a gold medal in every event he competed in.

“For me, it’s how dedicated he was - I saw an interview where he said he went swimming every single day between one Olympics to the next. That's him being in a pool every day for four years - that's commitment if nothing else.

“I think it's along the same lines as Michael Jordan, in terms of his commitment to it. Having that dedication to try and be the best, and then obviously the success that goes with that.”