A sloppy Bahrain Grand Prix weekend saw Lando Norris criticise himself publicly and lead to concerns over how he deals with adversity and questions over whether he is too hard on himself
Lando Norris got over the disappointment of his poor performance in Bahrain last weekend by “forcing himself” to look for the positives in his situation. The Brit finished third which in itself sounds like a successful weekend’s work.
His performance in the Gulf state was sloppy, though, as he qualified only sixth in the quickest car on the grid before labouring throughout the race to reach the podium positions. In contrast, team-mate Oscar Piastri qualified on pole and breezed to his second win of the year.
But Norris, 25, is still the championship leader by three points and says he has now calmed down after brutally tearing apart his own performance post-race. “I needed a couple of days off and needed a reset,” he said. “I’ve tried to force myself to think of what a success the start of the season has been.
“Yes, I know it could have been better. I have to get reminded that I’m leading the championship, won the first race and been on the podium every race. I want to achieve my potential and, at the moment, I am not achieving my potential – there’s no reason for me to be happy with that.
“I know I am hard on myself, but for 95 percent of it, that’s a good thing and it’s what makes me who I am and makes me have a chance in Formula 1 and to be with McLaren and fighting for a world championship. If I told myself I’d be leading the championship after four races, I’d be very happy, but probably don’t remind myself enough and that’s the main area I need to improve.”
READ MORE: George Russell responds to Mercedes contract rumours and his answer sums him upREAD MORE: Max Verstappen tells Sky F1’s David Croft to ‘focus on commentating’ in awkward clash
More good things are coming McLaren’s way in Jeddah this weekend if George Russell’ s prediction is correct. The Mercedes driver split Piastri and Norris in Bahrain but never threatened to challenge for the win. He expects more of the same on Sunday and believes McLaren remain “head and shoulders” above their rivals.
Russell said: “Oscar just drove away into the distance. So, for me and for us to be ahead of a McLaren was a huge result. But I still think it’s very close between ourselves, Ferrari and Red Bull. Red Bull obviously had an off weekend, but I think they’ll be back to normal this weekend.”
Sky Sports launches discounted Formula 1 package
£43
£35
Sky
Get Sky Sports here
Formula 1 fans can watch every practice, qualifying and race live with Sky’s new Essential TV and Sky Sports bundle in a new deal that saves £192.
As well as Sky Sports access, this includes more than 100 TV channels and free subscriptions to Netflix and Discovery+.
Max Verstappen insists his focus is on helping Red Bull get back to their best amid incessant speculation over his future. The Bahrain race showed Red Bull just how far they are off the pace and bosses held crisis talks after their star driver laboured to sixth place.
Team adviser Helmut Marko then said “the concern is great” that they could lose Verstappen to a rival team unless they made swift improvements. But the four-time champion batted away questions about his long term future and said: “I just keep working, trying to improve the car. Naturally, Bahrain wasn’t a great weekend for us and I think we were all pretty disappointed.
“But we just keep on trying to improve the car, come up with new ideas to try on the car. Competition is tough, but that’s how I go about my weeks, trying to improve the situation.” Verstappen then snapped at Sky Sports broadcaster David Croft, who led the questioning and was told to “focus on commentating” by the direct Dutchman.
But there are signs that Verstappen is not entirely settled at Red Bull, including his manager Raymond Vermeulen being spotted last Sunday berating Marko in the team garage after the race. “I am happy, I’m just not very happy with, of course, our car,” he added.
“To my knowledge, I think they were having a conversation about everything, which I think is allowed. I think we were all left frustrated with the result, with the things that went wrong in the race. I think that’s what Raymond and Helmut spoke about, and Christian [Horner] even came along and they all had a conversation.”
