Lando Norris admits needing reset after making silly mistakes in first half of F1 2024 and giving away lots of points to his rivals.
Having admitted to not deserving the #1 status as of now at McLaren in order to fight for the F1 world championship, Norris has also admitted to making lots of silly mistakes in the first of the year which he wants to erase and reset for in the second half.
Even though he wanted to continue racing even after Belgian GP, he welcomed the summer break which will allow him to look back and learn from his mistakes. He feels he has thrown away lots of points in the first half which is why he is away from Max Verstappen.
“I mean, we all need rest,” said Norris. “I think I just need to reset. I’ve given away a lot of points over the last three, four races, just because of stupid stuff and mistakes and bad starts. I don’t know why. It’s just silly things. It’s not even difficult stuff. Like in Belgium, it was just Turn 1, trying to stay out of trouble, trying to make sure there’s a gap and not get hit, and then I put myself off the track.
“So just some stupid things. The pace is good. The team are doing an amazing job. So I’m happy. And in a way, I felt like I just didn’t wished to take a break. I just wanted to continue, because we’re on good form. The last two, three races, I’ve just not clicked as much as I needed to, and given up a lot of points.
“Hopefully I can come back stronger,” summed up Norris, who also expanded on why some of his starts haven’t been as good. “It’s many different things,” he said. “It’s just different stuff. Obviously, my starts have not been great. I’ve lost probably a good amount of points off the line, and now Turn One again, easily a podium or even more.
“So there isn’t one reason. It’s maybe just trying a bit too hard and paying the price for that. I just forget about it [the problems]. Post Belgium, I had a week of debriefs. I was in the factory for half week to just kind of review everything and look over everything, make sure we take a break on a good note.
“I feel like there’s a lot of positives. Just things haven’t clicked for us. But I feel like we’ve still got what we need and what we want, so I’m happy we’ve got what it takes to fight and to put up a good battle. But I’ve just not been on it from my side. So it is to review my things and go away and forget about it for a good time, and then come back stronger, as I said,” summed up Norris.
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