Lando Norris insists that he doesn’t have any problem maintaining his motivation for driving in Formula 1, despite a poor start to the 2023 season for the McLaren squad.
Neither Norris and his new team mate Oscar Piastri were able to finish in the points in the first two rounds in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia.
But the chaotic finish to the Australian GP helped propel both drivers into the top ten in Melbourne and sent McLaren into the Easter break in a much improved fifth place in the constructors standings.
“It’s a big confidence booster when you know you have things to look forward to, when you have people in place or whatever,” Norris said after the race, denying that McLaren’s recent form had sent him window shopping at other teams.
“I can’t really look elsewhere, that doesn’t change,” he said. “Any driver on the grid wants to have confidence in the team.
“I don’t think anything necessarily changes my motivation. I’m motivated every weekend to do the best job I can.”
Norris is well known for being hugely self-critical of any mistakes he makes, but the Briton insisted this was a strength not a weakness.
“One big driver is that I’m very critical of my own performances every weekend. When I’ve done a shit job, I’ll say I’ve done a shit job.
“Even if I’m P2 or P1, you know, I’ll still be a guy that’s not happy being P1 because I’m like, ‘I didn’t do a good job’.
“That motivates me every week. I motivate myself very easily every weekend. I don’t need the team or the future to necessarily do that for me.”
Another motivation for the 23-year-old is the arrival of the highly rated Piastri as his new team mate following and departure of Daniel Ricciardo at the end of 2022.
“He’s doing a very good job, honestly,” Norris told Channel 4 F1. “I feel so weird talking like I’m the older guy, the more experienced one!
“But he’s doing a very good job, handling the pressure extremely well I would say,” he insisted. “I think that’s something that is very strong that I’ve seen in him.
“He’s calm, he’s controlled and he’s quick, so I feel like he’s got a lot of what you need.
“He’s pushing me more than what I’ve had the last few years, which is a good thing for us as a team as well.”
Ricciardo himself was trackside in Melbourne for the first time this year, and the Australian admitted that he was starting to feel the urge to get back into the cockpit and return to racing next season.
Meanwhile McLaren is hoping to ride its momentum into the next grand Prix at the end of the month in Azerbaijan, with a big package of upgrades planned for Baku.
The team blamed a late switch in development focus midway through the winter for McLaren’s sluggish start to the season but insists that the latest raft of upgrades won’t amount to a new ‘B-spec’ car.
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