Lando Norris : a beneficial self-critique
After a season full of twists and turns at McLaren, Lando Norris is convinced that his ability to bounce back has contributed to achieving one of his best seasons.
Lando Norris’s season has been eventful. At the beginning of the season, the McLaren wasn’t able to compete for the top positions. Once the car’s development started, the British driver achieved a series of good results.
If Lando Norris is still in search of his first career victory, then 2023 has been his most prolific season yet, with a personal record of seven podium finishes and a 6th place ranking in the drivers’ standings.
Norris tough with himself
To come back from such a long way in terms of development, McLaren has chosen to deeply question itself and make significant modifications. With this development, Lando Norris’ teammate, Oscar Piastri, won the only sprint format missed by Red Bull.
McLaren has managed to come back among the top teams in the championship. In this second part of the season, Lando Norris estimated that he should have fought for two pole positions… and potentially two victories. However, the 24-year-old driver had to face two incidents that moved him away from the front rows of the grid.
In Mexico, at the end of Q1, a fuel system check prevented him from accessing the second session and he had to settle for 19th place on the grid. Despite this, he finished 5th at the end of the GP. A few weeks later, in Abu Dhabi, while playing for pole position, an error in Q3 in the last sector on his final lap prevented him from starting in first. « I’m so frustrated sometimes », Lando Norris lamented on the radio after qualifying in the United Arab Emirates.
Andrea Stella, the director of McLaren, has expressed his satisfaction multiple times about having Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris in his team. The experience of the British driver has proven to be important, especially during the challenging moments at the beginning of the year. The Italian engineer particularly appreciates Lando Norris’s character, although he finds him sometimes hard on himself.
“The way he approaches his own performance deserves, I think, particular attention because he seems very harsh on himself,” said the English team manager in a press conference following the race in Abu Dhabi.
Bounce back from every mistake
From the Austrian Grand Prix, when McLaren regained competitiveness, Lando Norris has shown a sometimes dull performance on Saturdays and very convincing on Sundays. The few mistakes in qualifying have consistently been costly. The pace displayed in Mexico could have allowed him to achieve an impressive result if he had started on the front rows. However, the No. 4 demonstrates a consistency that is being questioned and does not dwell on his missed Saturdays.
« Even if I sometimes get annoyed with myself on Saturdays and people tell me, “you shouldn’t be so hard on yourself,” and many of my best performances happen the next day », explained Lando Norris during an interview with AutoSport.
« It doesn’t affect me when I go driving the next day, because I tell myself : “I missed again on Saturday”. Ever since karting, I’ve always been like this. It’s the way I was raised and it’s how I became the driver that I am today. »
The McLaren driver also added : “« Sometimes, it may not be the best thing and I am just very frustrated and depressed. I want to do a good job and try to meet the team’s expectations. It’s simply the way I work best and it’s how I bounce back the best. I have always been very honest when I feel I have done good and bad work. »”
Norris satisfied with his races
Lando Norris has had one of his best seasons. He has contributed a lot to McLaren and has fully embraced the role of lead driver in 2023. However, after four seasons in Formula 1, the British driver is still chasing his first Grand Prix victory.
If the season has been largely dominated by Red Bull and Max Verstappen, who have only left one race and one sprint, Lando Norris believes that it is clear that there are areas I need to work on and places where I haven’t always delivered as much as I should have.
In critiquing his season, Lando Norris is still satisfied with his ability to bounce back and recover from his mistakes the day before. « What was usually a disappointment on Saturday was a compensation on Sunday, analyzed the McLaren driver. « 95% of the time, yes, even when I made those mistakes, I bounced back the next day. I would come into Sunday thinking, “Okay, how can I give my best from now on?” All those races turned out to be some of my best! »
With a 4th place in the constructor’s championship, McLaren has had a better season, from an accounting point of view, than in 2022.
