Lando Norris has mixed feelings about the restart of the F1 season

This article was last updated on August 23, 2024

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Lando Norris has mixed feelings about the restart of the F1 season: ‘We could have been in an even better position’

Lando Norris doesn’t beat around the bush. “I didn’t perform like a world champion in the first part of the season. It’s that simple.”

The McLaren driver says it with mixed feelings. It frustrates him, the number two in the World Cup standings. Norris would have liked to be even closer to Verstappen. At the same time, before the season he had not thought he would be able to philosophize about the world title and what it takes.

“We started well behind Red Bull Racing, just like Mercedes, but we have become one of the best teams on the grid. That is an incredible achievement.”

Norris critical of himself: ‘Maybe we could have been in an even better position’

Since this season, Norris is no longer the leader of a list from which he would like to cross out his name: drivers with the most podium places who never managed to win a race. The Briton took victory in Miami at the end of May, and a month later he took over second place in the World Cup standings from Charles Leclerc.

‘The closer to the top, the more difficult’

McLaren has become a constant challenger to Red Bull Racing, but don’t think Norris is just relieved. Or that he has been freed from a burden since his first GP victory.

Norris: “Every athlete knows: the closer you get to the top, the more difficult it becomes.” Hence the critical view. “There are plenty of things that I have looked at and that I need to work on,” said Norris in Zandvoort when the season resumed after the summer break.

“After the first lap we were often strong in terms of strategy and race speed, but those good moments were too often overshadowed by a bad start or a bad first corner. In Spain that cost me the victory. And there were moments when I drove too carefully to stay out of trouble.”

“It’s not necessarily going bad, but the races have to go perfectly to beat the guys I’m competing against now. The smallest mistake can be a costly one.”

Now I think: shit, we could have been in an even better position.

Not that Norris is terribly disappointed by certain misses. “I don’t regret anything, I’ve always done what I thought was best.”

“On the one hand, I am happy with our performance, because at the beginning of the year we did not think we would be able to compete for the championship. But now that we do, you think: shit, we could have been in an even better position. “That’s our mentality now. We didn’t look at it that way at the beginning of the year.”

The bar is higher at McLaren and that is challenging in every respect. “I’m not happy if we don’t perform at the level necessary to beat Red Bull and Verstappen.”

Norris’ deficit after the first part of the season is 78 points. Less than feared, more than hoped. “It is still playable,” he says about the chance of becoming world champion. “But it’s a lot of points and I’m up against Verstappen.”

“I want to be optimistic and say that there are still opportunities to come. It will be a difficult challenge. But if I can perform at my best, I want to believe that it is still possible.”