Lando Norris: How ‘rock star’ developed into Britain’s 11th F1 world champion
Norris started the year with a win in Australia, but the first part of the season was difficult. Teammate Oscar Piastri had made significant progress in his hard work with the team over the winter, and Norris did not feel the car was as fast as it should be.
Improvements over the winter months had made the new car faster, but it caused what drivers referred to as “numbness” in the front axle, which hampered Norris’ ability to drive the car.
A modification to the front suspension was developed to improve Norris’ feel and was introduced in Canada in June. This wasn’t an overnight correction and was relatively minor in nature, but there’s no doubt that the trend line for Norris’ run after that was positive.
Despite falling 34 points behind Piastri at the end of August, Norris clinched the championship just nine races later.
Norris attributes his resilience to “the good group of people around me—people who support me, guide me, help me, always take care of me in the best way, whether it’s a good weekend or a bad weekend, and are there to give me the right mindset when I’m down.
“There are two reasons why I’m doing well: first, I’ve done a better job, so I’m performing better more often; second, I’m not always more positive, but when I have bad days and bad sessions, I’m more positive and less negative. And I’m a little more confident that I can turn it around.”
“I do a lot of work with different people outside the track. I do a lot of work on the track. But it all starts with the team around me.”
Stella has a word for that. He calls this “accepting the difference between perfection” and it’s a description Alonso uses to approach his career. This means that no matter how good a driver he is, he looks at his weaknesses and tries to mitigate them. It is a constantly evolving process.
F1 drivers don’t usually talk about these issues, and if they do, it’s usually in a suggestive way, trying to hide weaknesses.
“He doesn’t see it as a weakness,” says Carlin, “because he’s such an authentic, sincere person. It’s not even in his nature to hide this process.
“To some extent, you have to be in an environment where you can be challenged. Although Lando has had a few seasons in F1, he hasn’t had more than one season where he could be a candidate for the championship.”
“So he’s continued to improve throughout his F1 career, but to some extent your rate of development is limited by the extent of your potential. And if your potential is limited by various factors such as your car and your pace relative to other teams, then that affects how much you can improve at what pace.”
“But when he was handed a car that could challenge for the championship, his own development accelerated to match.”
“So with these greatest opportunities and these greatest challenges, the pace of development has actually accelerated in a sort of mirror image.”
Which must mean there’s more to come.
