How perfectionist Norris struggles to see the glass half full

He's leading the F1 World Championship but Norris believes he should be doing even better

Lando Norris is a guy who always wears his heart on his sleeve, and when he doesn’t achieve the high level that he expects from himself, he can’t hide his feelings.

He was particularly frustrated after qualifying only sixth in Bahrain last weekend. A snap of oversteer at the first corner on his Q3 lap proved very costly, and with McLaren team mate Oscar Piastri on pole he knew that he was facing a difficult race, and potentially a major blow to his title hopes.

Immediately after the session he highlighted what he saw as his poor personal performance in his typically open style.

“I've been off it all weekend,” he said. “Don't know why. Just clueless on track at the minute. So I don't know, I just need a big reset, that's all. Just not quick enough, simple as that.”

Thanks to a great first lap he recovered ground on Sunday, and ultimately even overcame a penalty for being out of position on the grid to claim the final spot on the podium.

Crucially it meant he retained his World Championship lead, albeit by slender three points over Piastri.

This was supposed to be Norris’s year, but a combination of his own personal struggles and his team mate’s improved form over one lap mean that it hasn’t quite turned out that way.

Yes, he won the first race in Melbourne and he is still leading in the points, but he’s adamant that he hasn’t performed at the level that he feels he can and should.

In essence the MCL39 doesn’t suit him as much as its predecessor, and he’s struggled to come to terms with that. Finding his way out of that situation is the challenge that he now faces.

“I needed a couple days off,” he said in Jeddah on Thursday. “Obviously I needed a reset – probably would have liked a few more days altogether. But I made the most of my three days relaxing, kind of getting away from a little bit.

“But at the same time, I think with every athlete's mind and every driver's mind, as much as you try and get away, you're still thinking of a lot of things. So for a lot of my time I was still thinking of the difficulties that I've been struggling with.”

“It's still been a very good start to the year. I've tried to force myself to think of what a success the start of the season has been.

“Yes, I know it could have been better, but still leading the championship, after not being happy, after not feeling comfortable in the car. It's still a start to the year that I would have dreamed of before the season.

“I've tried to remind myself of some of the positives, which there have still been quite a few of. But being myself, I've been trying to figure out the issues, the struggles, the reasoning behind it all. The most difficult thing is trying to find the answers to things.”

On the glass half full side he believes that he can make a step, even as early as Jeddah.

“I think we're along the right track,” he said. “I think we started to figure out some things on where I struggle, why I struggle, the reasons for these struggles, and I’m already trying to implement things for this weekend, I'm trying to improve in some of those areas.

“It's not like I want to come into this weekend and I'm full of confidence, and I know that things are going to turn around. I still think there are things I'm going to be struggling with, because certain things you cannot change at the minute.

“But there are certain things that I'm able to maybe re-look into from an approach point of view, from a driving style point of view, stuff which I've probably never had to think of necessarily before. It's just not my normal way of driving or thinking. And then go from there.

“So it's also a weekend where I want to perform, I want to do well. But it's early on enough in the season where if I can try and work on some things here and improve in some areas, that will all pay off in the longer run.”

In terms of specifics he also highlighted “the struggles that I'm having to feel the limit of the car and understand the limit of the car, which is completely different to last season, and just not allowing me to drive in the same way, and with the same abilities that I could perform at a very, very high level last season.”

The busy start to the 2025 means that we’ve had five races in six weekends. Like other drivers Norris always prefers to be behind the wheel of the real car.

On the other hand he hasn’t had much time to catch his breath and properly explore what he can do to improve his situation.

“Of course, we'd like to get back in the simulator and be able to try different things and figure out some of these things,” he said. “Some of which will take more time from a team point of view, and understanding what has changed so much from last year to this year with the car, and those kinds of things.

“But from a driver point of view, it's better that I can learn from the last few weeks. Already I've worked a lot with my team over the last three days, and I'll try to put it into practice this weekend.”

Given that he’s still performing at a high level despite not being comfortable with the car is he confident that when he is he will be able to outpace Piastri on a regular basis?

“I just want to help outpace the field,” he said when I put that to him. “I don't really care who. There's been plenty of times over the last few years when I've had a great position in qualifying or a great race, and I've come in disappointed.

“That's because most of my enjoyment comes from knowing that I've achieved what I know I can achieve in a qualifying or a race, disregarding whether that's first or second or third or whatever.

“At the minute I pay the price for these mistakes, but it's not because of being behind any certain people or anything that you're insinuating. It's just, I know I can be so much better and perform at a much higher level than what I'm doing now.”

What makes it more painful for Norris is that the latter part of last year showed him what sort of level he is capable of achieving.

“My level of confidence was very high at the end of last season, not for any other reason, but I just understood the car,” he said. “I understood how to drive it, and I could go out and execute things perfectly.

“Now I cannot, just because my feelings are not there, my way of driving is not suited at all, and I just hate not being able to know how I'm going to go out and perform in a qualifying lap.

“Maybe it's a lie, but last year if you had asked me are you confident going into qualifying, I would have been much more likely to say ‘yes’ than what I am now.

“And that's just because of how I feel in the car itself. It's not for any reason bar I know what I know what I can do, and I know what I'm doing, and I know what I can do and achieve is a lot higher than what I'm doing now.

“So the fact that I'm still leading the championship, the fact that the start of the year has not been dreadful, probably gives me more hope than anything else, that if I can get things to click and move in the right direction, then I'm hopeful that I can start to become much stronger.”

Norris’s honesty is always refreshing, although he’s been criticised for being too hard on himself in public. That’s just part of who he is, but he admits that he should perhaps try to be more upbeat.

“I want to achieve my potential,” he said. “And at the minute, I'm just not achieving my potential, and there's no reason for me to be happy with that.

“I know I'm hard, and I know I'm tough for myself, but for 95% of it, I think it's a good thing, and I think it's what makes me who I am, and makes me have a chance in F1 and be with McLaren and be fighting for a World Championship.

“I accept that there's probably the last few percent, which can be a very important few percent, where I probably say too many negatives, and that gets into my own head.

“And I don't think of the positives as much as I should. If I did tell myself at the beginning of the year that I could be leading the championship after four races, I would probably be very happy.”

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