Lando Norris has admitted he is "annoyed and unhappy" because he feels he can do better and challenge Max Verstappen for a world championship.
Norris has made a mixed start to the Formula 1 season. After finishing sixth and eighth in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, the 24-year-old was on the podium at the Australian Grand Prix before crossing the line in fifth in Japan last time out. Those results leave him fifth in the Driver Standings on 37 points.
He is already a mammoth 40 points behind runaway leader Verstappen and 18 behind fourth-place Carlos Sainz. Striving to reach the very top is something that motivates Norris, although even he realises that sometimes he can look rather displeased and angry when speaking after a race.
"I am self-critical and I know it can look bad from the outside, absolutely," he told the Guardian. "I watch my own interviews and I look so annoyed and unhappy. It's because my mind is whirling, I’m thinking: 'Why did I make a mistake? What happened if I did this or that? What if I had tried something else?' But I set high goals for myself, I know what I am capable of, I want to try to achieve great things and I am not going to do that by being complacent."
Norris is into his sixth season on the Formula 1 circuit with McLaren and despite being a regular name on the track, he doesn't want to stop there. A strong end to the 2023 season - culminating in four second-place finishes in the last eight races - saw Norris end the campaign in sixth.
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But after signing a new deal at McLaren last year, Norris was criticised for saying he doesn't want to be a teammate of Verstappen. That prompted accusations that he was afraid of the Dutchman, something he has now firmly rejected and revealed the truth behind why he said that statement.
"I believe I can achieve a championship at McLaren, that’s why I signed another contract," he added. "I absolutely think I can go up against Max and give him a good challenge. But I also rate Max, so for anyone it’s extremely difficult to go up against Max in his team and challenge him for a world championship. He could have moved to Mercedes back in the day and gone up against Lewis [Hamilton] but would it have been a smart idea to have done that? Probably not and he probably wouldn’t be in a Red Bull now and it would be a different story.
"I am not afraid in any way of Max, I’m excited to be against Max. People rate him as up with the best, so I would like to prove myself by going up against that. I look forward to being able to battle him, but genuinely for position and not have him half a second a lap quicker and just drive past me."
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