The pressure is crushing, it’s your seventh season in Formula 1, you finally have the car to win, all eyes are on you, and every mistake will be considered unforgivable. You’re at the fifth race of the season, after a dream start, your teammate who seemed like a supporting player in the title fight is turning into a more and more painful thorn in your side. You’re leading the championship but the mistakes are piling up, and your lead has shrunk to just a few points. You know the season is long, but that seemingly harmless Australian is starting to drum in your head as much as the criticisms that continue to pour in. After three free practice sessions played on thousandths, it’s time for qualifying, it’s time to banish those ghosts and silence the critics.
You reach Q3, you need to put together the lap, the walls are very close, no mistakes allowed. You start your lap, you get the first corner wrong, the delay from your best time increases on the display, you reach the third corner where you must be focused, precise, cold and sharp, you completely miss the apex, your pulse racing, barriers ahead. The adrenaline gives way to disappointment, anxiety, and frustration, at that moment in Lando Norris’ helmet, everything goes through his mind. You get out of the car, take a breath, and prepare to face dynamics that you know all too well. You try to find strength, to rise again, but these mistakes are burdens that weigh more and more.
Lando Norris entered F1 in 2019 along with that group of drivers who now represent the faces of the sport. Like Max Verstappen, Charles Leclerc, and Russell, Norris was immediately identified as a young superstar ready to shake up the Formula 1 landscape, a lot of pressure for a 20-year-old who was immediately placed in a top team like McLaren, unlike his peers who had a more gradual progression. Despite the immense pressure to manage, the memory we have of the rookie Lando Norris is that of a fast and solid driver, but most importantly, of a sunny and carefree young man chasing a dream. His growth was certainly helped by a career start under the radar with a car not at the level of the top teams, an environment where mistakes are allowed and exploits are celebrated.
Living alongside his former teammate Sainz was key in Norris’ development. A constant, stimulating, and healthy rivalry with a fast and solid driver was certainly an important piece in Norris’ understanding of how to manage the internal dynamics of a team and the pressure of competing with a teammate. All the learning phases Lando Norris went through prepared him to be ready once the car was competitive. That moment arrived, but despite this, the criticisms of him have grown, while the praise for teammate Oscar Piastri has continued to rise.
We need to go back a year to understand the driving and emotional difficulties Lando Norris faced. In 2024, the 1999-born driver finally had a car that could contend for the World Championship, but he didn’t rise to the occasion in his battle with Max Verstappen, which repeatedly highlighted his shortcomings. There were countless bad starts, lost battles, and individual mistakes. The Singapore GP was emblematic, showcasing all his talent but also his inconsistency, a frightening technical dominance that almost crashed into the barriers multiple times, flashes of talent and speed mixed with blackout moments. Blaming him for a missed championship would be a harsh judgment for someone who had to contend with a three-time world champion who was already well-established, but it’s reasonable to expect that now, with the definitive consecration and maturation, he should be performing better. The race in Australia, influenced by fickle weather, was perfectly managed by Norris and seemed to be a springboard for an undisputed number one season, but the ghosts of the past knocked on door number 4 again. In the following four races, Norris did not win again, and even more than the lack of victories, his statements about not being worthy of the car he drives weigh heavily. “Dull, sad, absent” are the adjectives that seem to best reflect his state of mind, and the feeling is that the last hurdle to overcome is to regain the serenity, carefreeness, and smile with which he first entered the paddock.
While last year Norris could afford to be less competitive compared to a three-time world champion in a different car, this year the pressure is entirely internal. The real challenge is in the next box, where Oscar Piastri has nothing to lose and everything to prove. The Australian’s talent is no longer a surprise, and with each race, the rivalry intensifies. In 2024, the story was that of the apprentice watching, but now it’s a direct rival, methodical and sharp, able to strike where Norris is most vulnerable: in consistency. On one side, talent, speed, and emotionality; on the other, solidity, consistency, and coldness, and often Formula 1 rewards the latter traits. Already last year in Baku, Piastri made a name for himself, and now those first glimpses of a champion emerging into the world of F1 are turning into a more consolidated reality, which not only frightens Norris but also places McLaren in a delicate situation. F1 teaches that two roosters in the same henhouse rarely coexist. While there have never been moments of tension between the two, history teaches that when the title is at stake, no one is safe, and it may only be a matter of time before things unravel. Managing the two McLaren drivers could be simple as long as the MCL39 outperforms the rest, but if the competitors close the gap, internal rivalry could be harmful and jeopardize the World Championship. McLaren was involved in a similar dynamic when Hamilton and Alonso were teammates, and in the end, the championship went to Raikkonen. Andrea Stella, after creating a missile from Woking, now has the task of managing this hot situation that could burn even more if a leader is chosen in the garage. The two McLaren stars have not stepped on each other’s toes so far, but the unity that brought the 2024 constructors’ title might not last much longer. Norris was the first to make a small provocation towards the Australian after qualifying in Bahrain: “I think Oscar will lap everyone, I’ll try to come second.” A seemingly innocent statement, but if read between the lines, it could be an attempt to put pressure on a guy who seems immune to pressure. At the start of last year, Norris wore the captain’s armband; now there are no hierarchies, and especially no number ones.
Another weakness for the Brit seems to be his inability to handle the pressure of having the best car. Norris seems to have started a war with the media, but it appears more as a battle with himself. He often transforms into the classic football manager who, when facing the microphone, downplays the resources available and highlights the rivals’ strengths or the challenges ahead, with the goal of making his own successes seem like something unexpected and not due. Norris has often downplayed the qualities of the “rocket ship” he gets to drive, shifting the focus to the strengths of his rivals, even though they are clearly behind McLaren. His teammate has never made such statements, rather he has repeatedly emphasized McLaren’s technical dominance. Besides being another demonstration of the large differences between the two, this is also proof of how much Norris suffers from the pressure of “having to win.”
Now Norris has lost the lead in the World Championship and is losing his internal leadership at McLaren. The next race is in Miami, a land of conquest for Norris last year. As romantic and sentimental as it may seem, the key to the Brit’s potential resurgence lies in rediscovering that smile that made people fall in love with him. That smile, by the way, Norris has hung on his walls at home in posters of his idol Valentino Rossi, a perfect model of the approach Norris should aim for—a daily happiness of someone who has fulfilled his dream, pure, all-encompassing, and far from the criticisms, rivalries, and pressures that have turned the once sunny and lightning-fast boy into a shadowy figure wandering the paddock in search of himself.
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