Lando Norris has suggested that his overly critical self-assessments after F1 track sessions aren’t necessarily a problem and that they have led to some of the strongest results of his career. These comments follow confirmation from team principal Andrea Stella that McLaren are looking for ways to support the 24-year-old.
Norris’ 2023 campaign was arguably the most impressive of his F1 career to date as the Bristol-born driver notched seven podiums during the final 13 rounds of the season to record a sixth-placed finish in the Drivers’ Championship standings, ahead of the likes of Carlos Sainz and George Russell.
This success came even though McLaren started the season with the slowest car in the field as Norris finished in P17 on four occasions during the first seven rounds of the campaign. However, when the chequered flag waved in Abu Dhabi, the Woking-based team had climbed to P4 in the standings
Despite his considerable success in 2023, Norris was often left frustrated over the team radio and in post-session media interviews, lamenting missed opportunities to clinch pole positions or the occasional shot at beating Max Verstappen.
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This self-critical approach attracted attention from team principal Stella, who told Autosport: “Certainly, even the way he addresses his own performance I think deserves attention because he just seems very harsh on himself.
“Sometimes we need to focus on the positives. There’s quite a lot of positives and we need to make sure that we look into that, and we make the negatives in a way be functional to perform, not simply to punish yourself.”
However, Norris believes that his approach can provide some positive impact on his performances, telling Motorsport.com: “As much as I get annoyed with myself on Saturdays at times and people are like, ‘you shouldn’t beat yourself up’ and all of that stuff, a lot of my best performances come then on that next day.
“And it doesn’t affect me when I go and drive the next day, because I’m like, ‘Oh I still just messed up Saturday’. Just because I say it and things, it doesn’t mean that. And I think a lot of people have different opinions on it, but I’ve always been that way.
“Since karting, I’ve always been like that. It’s the way I got brought up and it’s the way I’ve developed into being the driver that I am today. And, at times, maybe it’s not the best thing and I do get just very frustrated and down over a lot of it, but just because I care about doing a good job and trying to deliver for the team.”
