Lando Norris – is known for being open about emotions and mental health, as well as for very harsh self-criticism of his own performances. When he started, he said he wanted to help McLaren reach the top and he achieved that goal, as last season was almost completely dominated by the “Papaya”. But his path was not always smooth, and the driver himself had to deal with pressure and hate more than once.
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Lando Norris’s first seasons in F1
The Briton, who has been driving for McLaren for eight seasons, did not have an easy start to his F1 career. During that period, the Woking team struggled with enormous problems – the car very often failed and was not competitive compared to the rest of the field. Despite such difficulties, the not yet 20-year-old Lando scored points already in the second race (2019 Bahrain GP), and for the first time stood on the podium in the memorable race in Austria in 2020. That’s where he kept his nerves until the very end of the race – he drove the fastest last lap, reducing the gap to third-placed Lewis Hamilton to 4.802 seconds, and because of the penalty to the more experienced Briton (five seconds for a collision with Albon), it was Norris who stood on the podium.
The following seasons brought more podiums achieved with a still rather mediocre car. In total, in the 2021 and 2022 seasons, he finished third four times and second once. He also clearly outperformed his team partner – Daniel Ricciardo – who rarely finished in the points at all.
However, Lando’s record was still missing one thing – a race win. Already in 2023, after drastic changes following an unsuccessful start to the season, the car finally became more competitive. Norris regularly scored points and stood on the podium (six times in second place and once in third), and the pressure to win grew from race to race. As if that wasn’t enough, the hashtag #LandoNoWins started circulating on the internet. It certainly didn’t help the driver, who openly began talking about how such comments affected him. After each less successful race, he didn’t spare criticism of his own performances. Increasingly, his statements about mental health appeared in the media, which may indicate how much the media pressure was affecting him.
A good car and favorable circumstances meant that in May 2024, Lando Norris won his first Grand Prix in Miami. The relief was enormous, and the “bag of wins” finally opened – by the end of the season, the Briton was best in four races. One of them was an incredibly valuable victory at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, where he defeated two Ferrari drivers and secured the constructors’ world championship for McLaren.
Fight for the F1 world championship in 2025
Along with the wins came further expectations. Even in that same year, he was a real candidate for the world championship title, but an unlucky race in Brazil ultimately ended his chances for that season. The real pressure, however, began in the 2025 season. From the very beginning, it was clear that McLaren had created a true “rocket”, both drivers were in excellent form, the team was defending the constructors’ world championship title, and the vision of drastic regulatory changes from 2026 onwards made winning the drivers’ world championship seem almost necessary.
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Lando started the season brilliantly with a win in Australia. Later, however, his team partner Oscar Piastri came into his own, increasingly pulling away from rivals in the standings. At the peak, Lando’s deficit to Oscar was 34 points – added to this was Norris’s fatal mistake in Canada or an engine failure in the Netherlands. When it seemed that the Briton would once again finish the season in second place in the standings, several important things happened: Piastri almost completely lost form, unlike him Lando regularly scored points and won, and to top it off, Max Verstappen made a big comeback. Such a shift in the balance of power meant that Lando jumped into the leader’s seat and three races before the end of the season had a very high lead of 27 points. Formula 1 wouldn’t be Formula 1 without dramatic plot twists, though. Here we’re talking about the double disqualification of McLaren drivers in Las Vegas or the team’s fatal strategy in Qatar.
And so we come to the season finale in Abu Dhabi, when Verstappen’s deficit to the leader was 12 points and Piastri’s was 16. Already at the press conferences, you could sense enormous tension in Norris. His statements were short, and his characteristic smile was replaced by a poker face. The pressure on the driver must have been enormous. After all, he held the leader’s seat, while Oscar was counting on a miracle, and Max, familiar with the situation of fighting for the title, approached it with stoic calm. Lando just had to finish the race on the podium. Seemingly nothing, yet we know how cruel the queen of motorsport can be.
Finally, Norris repelled Leclerc’s attacks and crossed the finish line in third place and finally did it! He became World Champion! Pictures of the moved driver quickly spread around the world. Apart from joy and emotion, it was very clearly visible that a huge burden had fallen from the driver’s shoulders. In his statements after the race, his body language also contrasted sharply with what he had presented a few hours earlier, which only confirms that all negative emotions began to ease.
2026 season and a new beginning in F1
The start of the 2026 season is not ideal for Norris – in Australia he finished 5th, and in the Chinese GP he didn’t start at all due to electrical problems with the car (first DNS in his career). From the beginning, it’s also clear that the entire McLaren team is struggling with many difficulties related to the car – from lack of pace to problems with the power unit or battery. In such circumstances, it seems that Lando won the title at the last possible moment.
Now one could ask: did the pressure decrease because the title was won, or did it increase because it needs to be defended? However, observing Norris’s behavior, I will risk saying that last season’s victory took the pressure off him to prove that he can drive, and now he can enjoy being part of the group of 35 drivers who became World Champions.
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The article was written by Aleksandra Binkowska, you can find her on TikTok – link.
