Lando Norris must avoid F1 TRAP in Max Verstappen title fight

If Lando Norris had been told at the start 2024 that after 12 rounds of the upcoming season he would be second in the Formula 1 standings having taken his first ever victory in the championship, he would no doubt have been overjoyed.

After all, his McLaren team came into the new campaign significantly off the pace of frontrunners Red Bull and triple world champion Max Verstappen.

Having battled Mercedes and Ferrari for podium finishes in the second half of 2023, the Woking-based squad were certainly not on the up, but not widely expected to challenge at the very front. The idea of a Norris race win was realistic but unlikely, and a title challenge almost impossible.

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But after 12 rounds of the campaign McLaren’s stellar rise to the top of F1 has rendered them the fastest team on the grid, put them second in the constructors’ championship, and means they are as likely as Verstappen and Red Bull to win on any given weekend.

Norris, though, is unsatisfied with merely being in contention for wins. At recent events in Canada, Spain, and Great Britain, each of which he and McLaren could have won had they made smarter strategic decisions, avoided on-track errors, or perhaps had a bit more luck on their side, Norris has been openly self-critical in post-race interviews.

At Silverstone on Sunday in particularly, his ruefulness over his third-place finish in a race won by Lewis Hamilton manifested as naked disappointment in himself.

“I’m fed up of saying I should have done better, could have done this and that,” a clearly devastated Norris said. “I don’t want it to take time - we should be winning now. I should be making better decisions. I’m just disappointed.

“I didn’t do a very good job today with the calls, knowing when to box. I don’t know what to say. So many things are good, so many things are in place. I’m just not to the level I need to be at, it’s quite simple. I’m not performing at the level of the others at the minute - something I need to work on. I want to do a better job and when you throw away a win it’s pretty disappointing.”

An empathetic Natalie Pinkham conducting the interview told Norris: “you’re being very hard on yourself”, but was given short shrift by the forlorn 24-year-old.

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Norris’ upset was understandable – McLaren had the fastest car at Silverstone on Sunday, and he would almost certainly have won the race had he either pitted one lap earlier for his final stint or chosen the medium tyres over the softs. It was Hamilton’s smarter decision-making that secured him his first win in two-and-half-years instead.

What is key is that Hamilton’s experience means he is far more able to make those decisions correctly. He has spent 18 seasons competing towards the front of the field in F1, knows how to expertly manage races from start to finish and more often than maximises his result once the chequered flag is waved.

Norris, on the other hand, has never before competed for victories on a regular basis and so is undergoing the process of learning how to make the best decisions in the most crucial moments.

Even rival Verstappen spent years honing his craft and making mistakes with Red Bull before being given a car that could compete for the championship once he had ironed out the vast majority of his flaws.

While he is right to be self-reflective and to be frustrated by errors which are costing him in the present, then, it is important that focus is retained on the knowledge and skills he is building up in order to be able to better make better decisions for the rest of his career. Though these recent experiences clearly sting, they ultimately serve an important purpose in the long run.

2009 world champion Jenson Button believes Norris should cut himself some slack.

"Lando needs to be a little bit careful with his emotions," Button said on Sky Sports F1.

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"He is putting himself down massively at the last race [and] this race. It can quite easily spiral out of control. We know how important it is to have your head in the right place. He is so talented that I don’t want him to be too down on himself so that he is not back up there at the next race.

"You also don’t want to show your competitors that you’re that down. That’s a weakness that you don’t want to show.

“It’s lovely that he’s open with his emotions and it’s great for us viewers. But I’m just thinking of the competitive side of things. He shouldn’t be so down on himself."

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That idea that things have the potential to become a trap he falls into is important. Norris’ disappointment is justified, and his willingness to demonstrate it in public rather than adopting some sort of macho athlete refusal to admit how he feels in public is refreshing. But that disappointment should be put to one side once the initial burst of pain wears off.

Norris has plenty going for him right now, including the fastest car on the grid and very consistent pace of his own.

If he can harness the frustration he feels with his own errors into increased knowledge for future battles at the very front of the field, then the benefit to his long-term chances of becoming a Formula 1 world champion at some point in his career could be enormous.

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