EXCLUSIVE: Lando Norris on the battle to be at his best

Lando Norris will return to the scene of his maiden Formula 1 victory at this weekend’s Miami Grand Prix, marking a full circle moment in the British youngster’s career. Before touching down in Florida again, this time as a title challenger, F1.com caught up with the McLaren driver to reflect on how that breakthrough result changed him, the many highs and lows experienced since, and the effort – both physically and mentally – he is putting into reaching the very top of the sport…

Chalking up his first win

One year ago, Norris was in the early stages of his sixth F1 campaign and still chasing an elusive first victory – sections of social media taking every opportunity to remind him about that fact with their ‘Lando No-wins’ messages weekend in, weekend out.

But his persistence – combined with McLaren’s improvements under new team boss Andrea Stella – finally paid off during 2024’s visit to the Miami International Autodrome, where he exploited a mid-race Safety Car to lead home Red Bull rival Max Verstappen.

While some questioned whether Norris deserved to win that day, the result took the weight off his shoulders and he soon proved it was no fluke – claiming three more victories across the season, giving Verstappen a run for his money in the championship and starting 2025 with another statement triumph.

Norris became an F1 race winner at last year’s Miami Grand Prix

As we sat down in a chilly Suzuka paddock at the beginning of F1’s recent triple header sequence, any qualms about the changeable weather or the challenges in the races to come were swiftly put to one side when I asked Norris to travel almost 12 months back in time.

“It always puts a smile on my face,” he beams of that Miami weekend. “The joy, the relief… I’m a guy who has to kind of see something to believe it, you know? Did I think I could win a race? Yes. But did I ever go into [one] really believing I’m going to win? No. So, after achieving one, that gave me a bit more of the belief, like, ‘Okay, I can win a race in F1, and I can beat Max’.

BUXTON: The posts, the stories and the reels can write themselves now – it’s ‘Lando No-wins’ no more

“Was I a bit lucky in Miami with the Safety Car and things? Yes. But that’s the way of racing. Sometimes it goes your way, sometimes it doesn’t… sometimes you just have the boring races, and you’ve got to qualify well. At the end of the day, no matter how [I did it], I won a race in F1.

“It makes you relax a little bit more. It’s not like, ‘Is this going to be the one? Can I do it today?’ it’s, ‘I did it last week, I did it a couple of months ago, I can do it again’. That just gives you a much better feeling coming into weekends, or during weekends, when that time might come up again.

“You get rid of the little voice that’s like, ‘Don’t mess it up now!’ It’s not the biggest change, but when that voice comes up every now and then, when you’re maybe leading the race briefly or you’re starting on pole, it helps you focus that little bit more.”

Race Highlights: 2024 Miami Grand Prix

A long journey to the top

As well as the raw emotion and relief after taking the chequered flag, captured when he phoned parents Adam and Cisca and began to process what had just happened, Norris shares how his mind quickly went back to the very start of his motorsport career – and the collective family effort that had got him to this point.

“I had flashbacks to karts and my first ever days [racing],” he continues. “My Dad used to bring both my brother [Oliver] and myself to the kart tracks, travelling with us when we started to go to the European races. He came to 99% of the races – I think he missed three in the first seven years of racing! He still comes to a lot.

“We’ve all been on [the road to F1] together. Obviously, my Dad’s been the one that’s travelled with me and done everything from the very, very beginning, but then I’ve got my two sisters and my older brother, so my mum’s had to look after them a lot more.

“[My family were] all very happy. They sacrificed a lot, my parents, and even my sisters… They didn’t see me, and I don’t spend a lot of time with my sisters, or my brother. They’ve done a lot to help me and, when I got to share that moment with them, it was a very, very nice feeling.

“But yeah, those memories… even before I started karting on a track, we had some go-karts at home, and my Bambino go-kart… I remember putting out some cones, and there’s a video on YouTube of me doing donuts on a rectangle piece of tarmac, when we put some Fairy Liquid [down] with some water…

You get rid of the little voice that’s like, ‘Don’t mess it up now!’ It helps you focus that little bit more.
Lando Norris

“It’s just knowing, I guess, everything that goes into achieving something like that [your first F1 win] from the very, very beginning. You have these weird memories that you’ve almost never been able to think of before that just pop up, and that’s pretty cool.”

From sliding around on washing up liquid as a toddler to drinking champagne on the top step of the F1 podium around 20 years later, either side of a stellar karting career and trophy-filled stints in F4, F3 and F2, Norris sometimes has to pinch himself over the adventure so far.

TEENAGE DREAMS: The 10 youngest drivers to race in F1 – and how they all fared

“I know, it’s quite a difference!” Norris laughs of that soap-related anecdote. “When you think of how distant F1 looked back then… it wasn’t even on my mind when I started, I started just because I liked karting. I tried it and was like, ‘Oh, this is fun’. Not because I knew what F1 was, what it was like, that you get paid… I couldn’t care less about any of that.

“My love at that point was still with MotoGP and motorbikes, and Valentino Rossi, and slowly over a few years – seven, eight, nine, 10 years old – I transitioned more to F1 and four wheels. To go from that point to now, or just reaching the goal of getting to F1, they’re all big achievements. It’s [been] a long journey.”

Turning victories into titles

With his F1 debut, first pole position, first podium and now first win all ticked off, the next goal on Norris’ list is clear: becoming World Champion.

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA - MARCH 16: Lando Norris of Great Britain and McLaren embraces his parents, — Norris celebrates victory in Australia with his parents, Adam and Cisca

That is, of course, much easier to target than achieve, particularly when Verstappen is one of the drivers standing between you and title glory – a spectacularly fast, fiercely determined racer who has already marked himself out as one of the greatest in the sport’s history.

Following Verstappen’s domination in 2022 and 2023, the Dutchman had something to think about during the second half of 2024 thanks to McLaren’s aforementioned gains, Norris’ rise and his own Red Bull team’s development troubles.

WATCH: All of Norris and Verstappen’s intense 2024 battles

There were several flashpoints between the two along the way, from an initial scrap in Austria to a late-season skirmish in Mexico, with some paddock figures and former drivers arguing that Verstappen was being too aggressive, and others suggesting that Norris was not being aggressive enough.

Those moments aside, the title race came to a head on a rain-soaked Sao Paulo Grand Prix weekend, where Norris ended the delayed, incident-filled Qualifying in prime position to slash Verstappen’s points lead, only for the latter – caught out by red flags in the grid-deciding session – to turn the tables in the race with a remarkable recovery drive.

That reply, combined with Norris’ tumble down the order, meant Verstappen’s fourth title was a formality, and left his new rival to ponder what he could have done differently.

Getting to know Lando Norris

“I think [over] the second half of last year I learned the most about being back at the front, performing under pressure, and racing against the best in the world,” reflects Norris, with the benefit of a winter break. “We learn a lot more there than when we’re at the back doing other things. Could I have made better decisions? Yes. Did I? No. Max deserved to win it, and I didn’t.

“At the end of the day, I was kind of happy that I got to experience all of those things and learn from all of those things, because it’s definitely helped me become a better driver now, and I’m a lot more ready now. Everyone’s different. Sometimes people are more natural in those things, and some people have to learn more and spend more time learning those things.

BARRETTO: Norris promised McLaren that 2025 would be his year, so is he ready to become World Champion?

“For me, it was a good learning experience. Some of them more specifically with Max than others, but a lot of different situations. Even though it was my sixth year, it was still a very big learning curve. It was a very good season for picking up on all those things going into the winter.

“I looked back on what was good, what was not good, the strengths, the weaknesses, and how you put them together to make you a more complete driver. I think [it was] crucial in terms of learning and understanding more about myself, and what I need to work on.”

It is worth noting that while Verstappen has been challenging for F1 titles since 2021, the year he went head-to-head with Lewis Hamilton in a battle for the ages, Norris was last in the running for a championship back in 2018, when he finished second to now Mercedes racer George Russell in F2.

SPIELBERG, AUSTRIA - JUNE 30: Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB20, and Lando Norris, McLaren — Norris and Verstappen went wheel-to-wheel on a few occasions in 2024

There is more pressure, more scrutiny and, ultimately, more to play for in such a situation.

The mental game

Norris has spoken openly about his mental health struggles in recent years, as well as a tendency to be extremely self-critical and dwell on the negatives – something that came to the fore when he spoke to the media after such high stakes races last year.

If a mistake was made, rather than brushing it off and debriefing behind closed doors, Norris would berate himself before the millions of fans watching worldwide – going as far as to describe his actions as “stupid” and “almost embarrassing” when I spoke to him after a first-lap error at the Belgian Grand Prix.

But where exactly does that come from? Why did it reach its peak in 2024? And what is he doing to try and keep a level head through the bad times, the good times and everything in between as his F1 career develops?

“I think because I’m very…. as much as you see me laughing on camera and all those things, I’m still a very reserved person,” he says, pausing for thought. “I like to keep to myself, I’m very quiet 95% of the time, and I like doing my own things and thinking in my own head. I’m an introvert – massively. Because of being introverted, I just grew up always being very self-conscious of everything.

I’ve always been very hard on myself. I’ve always worked on myself more than I’ve ever blamed anyone.
Lando Norris

“I’m sure if you go through all of my interviews… at times, maybe the obvious one is the car isn’t quick enough, that’s just an underlying fact of F1 at times, but I would never come in and go, ‘The car sucked today, and I drove outstanding’. You’ll never get that from me.

“I think a lot of that is growing up, thinking, and being very reserved and introverted. I always spoke to myself, and I only ever blamed myself. Also, I was lucky that I was always with very good teams, and I always had very good team mates growing up, that I could almost never blame my equipment or people around me. That’s just never been me.

TREMAYNE: McLaren’s impressive pace in 2025 means they could soon be facing an age-old F1 problem

“Sometimes I have excuses for things, [but] I’m never proud of using any of them, and 95% of the time I think that I can do a better job, no matter what it was. Maybe the car wasn’t quick enough, but I thought, ‘I still could have done this better, I could have done that better’.”

Now flowing freely, he adds: “I’ve always been very hard on myself, because I’ve never been hard on anyone else… I’ve never been hard on my team, my mechanics, the car, the set-up. I’ve always worked on myself more than I’ve ever blamed anyone, let’s say, and that’s just made me into the person that I am.

“I think there are pros and cons of that kind of mentality… A lot of it has been good, because it makes me work on myself, and I think I’m very good at understanding myself and figuring out why this was good and that wasn’t good, but there’s the negative side of sometimes being too negative on yourself, and kind of getting into that bad little world.

BAHRAIN, BAHRAIN - APRIL 12: Sixth placed qualifier Lando Norris of Great Britain and McLaren looks — Norris has faced some mental health challenges over the years

“I’ve learned to utilise it in a good way, and especially over the last half a year, year, I’ve tried to optimise it and use it in terms of making me better – rather than use it, acknowledge it and let it affect me in a negative way. It’s more how can you turn it into something positive? That’s something I’ve not been good at until the last year or so.

“In both aspects of my life – F1 life and also at home – I feel like I’m in the best position that I’ve been. I know that I’m going to make mistakes, and I’m going to let myself down, but I’m excited and confident that I can go out and do a good job every weekend.”

A tweaked plan of attack

It is still a work in progress for Norris.

In Bahrain, he commented that “I feel like I’ve never driven an F1 car” after a disappointing run to sixth on the grid, while in Saudi Arabia he crashed out of Qualifying and proceeded to call himself an “idiot” over the radio.

However, there was a noticeable difference in his demeanour when he stepped into in the media pen following that Jeddah shunt and, by the time race day arrived, the 25-year-old cut a relaxed, focused figure – his mind locked on recovering as much lost ground as possible.

Speaking to the F1 Nation podcast after a strong recovery to fourth, Norris offered some more insight into how he is dealing with his thoughts and feelings as a championship contender, amid the continuing external threat from Verstappen and the growing internal challenge posed by team mate Piastri, who has won three races from five.

SUZUKA, JAPAN - APRIL 05: Pole position qualifier Max Verstappen of the Netherlands and Oracle Red — Norris sits second in the 2025 standings, between Piastri and Verstappen

Norris also shared the new approach he adopted in the minutes leading up to the race, having worn earphones on the grid “for the first time ever” to block out the noise, stay present and put himself in the best headspace to get the job done.

“I’m probably putting a bit too much pressure on myself at the minute, not because of any [particular] reason, and not because of the championship and all these things,” he commented. “I just put too much pressure on myself because I want to do well – like I want to do so well.

HINCHCLIFFE: Why I’m so impressed by Norris’ unconventional and unflinchingly honest approach to his racing

“I want to be on pole, I want to win, I want to be perfect. I think I need to accept a little bit more that I’m not going to be perfect, and I’m making mistakes because I’m trying to be perfect, rather than the other way around.

“I think I just need to chill out a little bit and have a bit more trust in my speed, because my speed [in Saudi Arabia], and my speed in every race this season, has been, I think, the best. I’m very confident that I can win the races if I just give myself a better chance on Saturday.”

Can Norris build on the progress he feels he has made over the last 12 months, put those latest introspective words into action, and get his hands on F1’s ultimate prize? The twists and turns of the next 19 Grands Prix, beginning with an emotional return to Miami, will provide the answers…