Ralf Schumacher was among several former Formula 1 drivers who shared their concern for Lando Norris after the Brit’s reaction to a difficult weekend at the Bahrain Grand Prix
Lando Norris has snapped back after his mental strength was called into question following the Bahrain Grand Prix. It was not a great weekend for the Brit who struggled despite McLaren being dominant and team-mate Oscar Piastri winning the race at a canter.
While the Australian barely had to break sweat in order to secure his second victory of the year, Norris laboured throughout the race. He eventually rose to finish third from sixth on the grid but it took him multiple attempts to get past the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc while he couldn’t get the better of George Russell in the Mercedes.
Speaking afterwards, as he had done a day earlier following a disappointing qualifying result, Norris was very critical of himself while Piastri remained, as always, level-headed in his public comments. Red Bull adviser Helmut Marko recently said of the McLaren pair: “I do think Piastri is mentally stronger, even if Norris is faster on one lap. But we know that – it’s nothing new.”
What happened in Bahrain prompted several former F1 drivers to also question the Brit’s mental toughness. “You can always say ‘Listen, I made a mistake and wasn’t completely on top of things today’. But you can tell that there is no confidence left in himself sometimes,” said Dutch former racer Giedo van der Garde.
Former Spyker F1 driver Christijan Albers said: “You still have to stand there and give a confident interview. You can see from his attitude that he is not as mentally strong as the others. That’s really striking to me.”
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And on German television, six-time race winner Ralf Schumacher said: “This must not happen to a future world champion If I was his manager or team boss, I’d take his phone away and put him in a hotel and tell him to exercise.
“He shouldn’t listen to any of us or read all the articles coming out. It hurts him, it haunts him. Everyone is talking about his weaknesses. Then he should come to the next race in a completely neutral way. That would help him and that’s what I would do.”
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Norris concedes that he is often too hard on himself in the immediate aftermath of a race. But, also speaking not long after the conclusion of Sunday’s Bahrain race, the championship leader explained that it is a part of his process and it often helps him to get any negative or unhelpful thoughts out of his system.
He said: “The thing is, I think it would be even harder for me to not show any of these things. A lot of this is – when I do my interviews and whatever – a lot of it is probably just getting my frustration out. It’s just because of not achieving what I want to achieve. It’s because of my desire to do well and my ambition to win.
“When I know what I can do and what I’m capable of, and I’m not even close to reaching that – like [in qualifying] – I’m very disappointed in myself. That’s just the way I am. I’m just so hungry to win and I work so hard to win.
“When it doesn’t go my way, and when I mess up myself, then I’m very disappointed in myself. But during the interviews and saying things I do, I don’t think necessarily have a bad impact on myself negatively. I’ve done it so much my whole life, I’ve learned how to block my own comments away from my thoughts.”
