McLaren driver Lando Norris said his problems dealing with pressure early in his career helped him in his fight with Red Bull's Max Verstappen for the Formula One championship this season.
Norris is 62 points behind Verstappen with eight races to go and is fighting for the championship for the first time. He came to McLaren in 2019 as a teenager, and recently revealed that he was depressed during that first season.
After 110 races, Norris achieved his first victory in May in Miami and is the closest competitor to Verstappen in the fight for the title.
"I think because I struggled a lot with too much pressure when I started in Formula 1, in my second year and in my third year, I learned quite well how to deal with it. It even helped me in this situation in I know I may not be in direct contention for the title, but I'm dealing with more and more questions and pressure from everyone who thinks I have to perform every weekend, knowing that I have to perform every weekend," Norris said. is Sky today.
"I think that because of those things from the past, I'm now able to deal with it much better. And because of that, that pressure doesn't affect much now. It's still there, I know there's more of it. The team will feel more pressure, and there will be more on me. But it's up to me to face him the way I think is best," he added.
The British driver achieved two victories this season, and he said that he would have had a smaller gap to Ferstappen if he had taken advantage of the opportunities, since he had a car that could win in Canada, Spain, at Silverstone and in Hungary.
Noris started last week's race in Monza from pole position, but his teammate Oskar Pjastri overtook him right at the start, and he finished the race in third place.
It was the fifth time Norris had started from the top spot without leading after the first lap, so many critics questioned his ability to handle the pressure of starting a race.
"I don't think about it at all. The pressure is always there. I'm still nervous in qualifying. I'm as excited as I am nervous in the races. I don't eat, I hardly eat anything on Sundays. I can't even drink much on Sundays, just because of the nervousness and the pressure. But it's about turning it into a positive thing, not letting it affect you in a bad way," Norris said.
He added that he has changed a lot since he came to Formula 1, but that he "still remains himself".
"I like to disappoint people when I say my opinion, whether it's right or sometimes wrong. When I came to Formula 1 I think I cared more about other people's opinions than my own things. I never wanted to be someone else or do something else, but now I have a better balance in my life and enjoy the time I spend off the track more," he stated.
"But I still love what I do, otherwise I wouldn't be here. I still enjoy it, but in a different way. I have to share it more with the team. And I've learned how to treat Formula 1 and my job more as a focus and I've learned how to switch off better when I get home," added 24-year-old Norris.
The Formula 1 championship continues on September 15 with the Azerbaijan Grand Prix in Baku.
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