Norris: Self-criticism led to some of my best F1 races in 2023
Norris finished sixth in the 2023 driversā standings, marking his joint best championship finish in his F1 career, with a personal best of seven podiums.
But it was his McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri who took one of only two non-Red Bull wins from 28 possible chances, after the Australian won in the Qatar Grand Prix sprint from world champion Max Verstappen.
Norris felt there he āshould have fought for two pole positions and potentially two victoriesā but for qualifying errors, while a late Q1 mistake following a fuel system check in Mexico meant he started down in 19th before charging back to fifth.
The British driver also lost a chance to claim pole for the Abu Dhabi GP due to a mistake in the final sector of his last Q3 lap.
Norris was notably self-critical after his most high-profile mistakes in 2023, saying āIām so s**t sometimesā over his team radio after his track limits error in Qatar GP qualifying.
McLaren team principal Andrea Stella was then moved to say in Abu Dhabi that āthe way he addresses his own performance, I think deserves attention because he just seems very harsh on himselfā.
Photo by: Jake Grant / Motorsport Images
Lando Norris, McLaren, talks to the media
But Norris himself feels: āIām, as much as I get annoyed with myself on Saturdays at times and people are like, āyou shouldnāt beat yourself upā and all of that stuff, a lot of my best performances come then on that next dayā.
āAnd it doesnāt effect me when I go and drive the next day, because Iām like, āoh I still just messed up Saturdayā,ā Norris said in an exclusive interview with Motorsport.com.
āJust because I say it and things, it doesnāt mean that. And I think a lot of people have different opinions on it, but Iāve always been that way.
āSince karting, Iāve always been like that. Itās the way I got brought up and itās the way Iāve developed into being the driver that I am today.
āAnd, at times, maybe itās not the best thing and I do get just very frustrated and down over a lot of it, but just because I care about doing a good job and trying to deliver for the team.
āSo, I do it, not that I just purposely try to do it, but because itās just the way that I work best. And itās the way that Iām able to bounce back best.
āTherefore, Iāve always just been very honest when I think Iāve done a good job and bad job.ā
Norris also said of his overall performances in 2023 that āit was clear that thereās places I need to work on and places I didnāt always deliver as much as I shouldāve doneā.
He continued: āBut thereās also a lot of cases of once that did happen, how did I come back from that and overcome that the next day?
āWhich was generally the letdowns on a Saturday and making up for it on a Saturday. And I think I did exactly that.
ā95% of the time was, yeah, even when I made those mistakes, which Iām always happy to admit and Iāve always said and so on, was how do I bounce back the next day and turn up on Sunday with the kind of clear mindset of, āOK, Iām starting in this position, how can I do my best job from here?ā
āAnd I think all of those races genuinely wereā¦ actually turned out to be some of my better races!ā
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