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Lando Norris has been warned against being too self-critical in situations where he does not perform at the level he is capable of. This comes directly from his boss at McLaren, Andrea Stella. The team principal emphasized the importance of finding a balance between being too hard on oneself and being constructive about the shortcomings.
In the past weekend in Qatar, Lando Norris was very harsh on himself for missing out on pole position in the sprint as teammate Oscar Piastri secured it. Not only that, the driver looked disheartened and in tears as his teammate won the sprint for the team. With Norris yet to win a race with McLaren, he was visibly distraught.
McLaren team principal Andrea Stella called on his driver to rein this in and urged him to find the perfect balance. Talking about Lando Norris' highly critical nature, Stella said (via PlanetF1):
“Lando is such an honest person and I think he perpetuates this honesty in every kind of relationship, including the one with himself. I think he wants to make sure that if he gets it wrong, he gets it from the honesty point of view. He doesn’t want to look arrogant, he doesn’t want to look like: ‘I’m not acknowledging that I could have done better, so I make it very clear.’"
He added:
“But at the same time, like I said before about champions, you need to find the right balance, and you need to find the right dynamics in terms of communication to the world and in terms of communication to yourself, to put yourself in the position to perform today, and in the position to keep improving every day."
"How tough do I really have to be with myself?" - Stella urges Lando Norris to find a level-headed approach
Talking about how harsh Lando Norris was on himself after qualifying in Qatar, Stella emphasized how the driver needed to find a more level-headed approach and balance. He said:
“So I think even how harsh he was on himself, following especially the qualifying on Friday will be an element of review – and this review will happen again, very honestly, and he will calibrate over time to see: ‘How tough do I really have to be with myself? What is the target here?"
He added:
"To be faster in every single corner, in every single lap, in every single session? Or just be the best, which doesn’t imply all the rest? So I mean, there’s a bit of a journey, which is for Lando, it will be for Oscar, and is for each of us in the team.”
Lando Norris finished the weekend in Qatar with podiums in both sprint and the race, an indication of how impressive the result was for the team.
