"Why am I sounding like a little baby?" - McLaren's Lando Norris on his radio messages to team during F1 races

Lando Norris looks on in the garage during practice ahead of the F1 Grand Prix of Belgium at Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps on August 26, 2022 in Spa, Belgium. (Photo by Mark Thompson/Getty Images)

Lando Norris believes he needs to be more mindful of his radio messages and understand their portrayal after his rant at the Russian GP last year. The Briton felt he sounded amateurish and has been careful since then about the portrayal of his radio messages and emotional outbursts on team radio.

Reflecting back on the moments from the 2021 Russian GP, Lando Norris explained the situation on the Beyond the Grid podcast, saying:

“I know I was stressed, leading the race, Lewis [Hamilton] has just caught me up, he’s a lot quicker. It’s raining. Like this is everything that can go wrong kind of going wrong. At the same time, I felt very much in my zone of like, I grew up driving on slicks in the rain. I loved doing that in go karting. And probably the same for Lewis, you know, those stories.”

He continued:

“So, I felt like that was me, and I felt very comfortable at the same time, as uncomfortable as I was with slicks in the rain, with Lewis behind me for a win, I felt very comfortable with the situation I was in. But the way I come across on the radio is so different to how I feel I say it at the time, I feel like I’m just saying it. But then I hear myself on the radio. I’m like, ‘why am I screaming? Like, why? Why am I sounding like a little baby?’”

The McLaren driver believes his radio rants are very different now, but his cranky radio messages were a result of the stress of leading a race for the first time. In an odd choice, Lando Norris opted for slicks in a damp Russian GP, which cost him and his team an important win.

Commenting on the radio messages after his disappointment and during the race, Norris said:

“Yeah, so I just need to be careful, even now with other things, I need to be careful of the way I think I’m saying it differently to how they might portray it, then. But not too many things. I’m not saying like, if we did the same again, and I said something in a different way, it will change the outcome. I don’t think that was the issue, let’s say. But definitely, there’s every now and then times, where things that I say or how I say them will get portrayed in a different way and then kick off decisions that the team will make, to box me, not to box me, and so on. And I guess I just think of that more now, because of that situation and what I did then.”

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Lando Norris has reflected upon the 2021 Russian GP loss several times

After leading the majority of the Russian GP, Lando Norris spun out and lost the lead of the race after he decided to stay out and maintain the lead instead of pitting for fresh intermediate tires. The odd tire choice was a gamble and cost him his only possibility of a win last season. Despite reflecting upon the moment several times negatively, the Briton feels there will be multiple possibilities to claim a victory in the future.

Contemplating the events of the Russian GP, Lando Norris said:

“The one thing I think of is, was that my only shot? And I hate thinking it because I also want to believe, like as a team, we’re going to be winning races in a few years. But you never know in Formula 1, which is the issue. You never know where you can be or what can happen. That’s the only thing, but I think that very rarely, probably two or three times I’ve thought of that. But the rest of it I still see as a team, two or three years. That’s when our times will come.”

McLaren’s poor performance in the final races of the season, including the Russian GP, cost them third place against Ferrari in 2021. While they have had a tough start to the 2022 season with the new car, Lando Norris is positive there will be several opportunities in the future for him to claim his maiden win with his current outfit.