McLaren driver Lando Norris said self-criticism is a crucial part of his professional career as a racing driver.
Lando has been a harsh critic of himself at times when his performances didn’t reach expectations – he once called himself “shit” over the radio after track limit mistakes at the Qatar Grand Prix qualifying.
The British driver said people tell him that he “shouldn’t beat” himself up when he gets “annoyed” with himself when qualifying sessions don’t go as planned.
“A lot of my performance come then on that next day,” he told Motorsport.com. “And it doesn’t affect me when I go and drive the next day, because I’m like, ‘oh I still just messed up Saturday.”
“Just because I say it and things, it doesn’t mean that. And I think a lot of people have different opinions on it, but I’ve always been that way.”
The McLaren athlete said that his harsh self-criticism is “the way I work best. And it’s the way I’m able to bounce back best.”
“Therefore, I’ve always just been very honest when I think I’ve done a good jobe and bad job.”
Reflecting on his 2023 season, Norris admitted he needs “to work on places I didn’t always deliver as much as I should’ve done.” He added, however, than when qualifying sessions don’t go as expected he “makes up for it on a Sunday.”
“Ninety-five percent of the time was, yeah, even when I made those mistakes, which I’m always happy to admit and I’ve 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, ‘OK, I’m starting in this position, how can I do my best job from where?’ And I think all of those races actually turned out to be some of my better races.”