Sports today isn’t just about talent or hard work. To succeed at the highest level, athletes often turn to sports psychologists and mental performance coaches to sharpen the psychological side of their game. This support is especially crucial for athletes who tend to be pessimistic or overly self-critical—like F1’s Lando Norris.
Self-doubt has been associated with Norris throughout his career, and oftentimes, it has affected his performance in races. Heading into 2025, however, he insisted that he had worked on these issues and felt confident about fighting for the championship. But five races into the campaign, those old doubts have started to creep back in.
For instance, after a disappointing P6 in Bahrain qualifying last week, Norris admitted he felt clueless. “It’s not that I’m doing a bad job, it’s just that I’m not able to be at the level I should be, and know I can be and want to be,” the McLaren driver said. Similarly, he referred to himself as an “idiot” after crashing out in Q3 yesterday in Jeddah.
At a time when Norris needs an injection of confidence, four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel has been one of his biggest supporters. We have better days and worse days. And I think the threat now is that people talk about what he’s maybe going through and interpret this as a sign of weakness, like, why is he doing that? You know what’s going on with him, what’s wrong with him? Nothing’s wrong with him,” explained Vettel in an interview with Sky Sports F1.
Sebastian Vettel believes Lando Norris’ openness and vulnerability should be seen as a strength rather than a weakness pic.twitter.com/mzHOWLS7CL
— Autosport (@autosport) April 16, 2025
However, F1 driver coach Martin Villari is puzzled by Vettel’s support of such negative self-talk, arguing that it does more harm than good for a driver like Norris. Villari explained that the more Norris continues to criticize himself, the more his subconscious will start to believe that he might not be good enough.
According to Villari, Norris’ crash was less about a technical error that any driver could make and more a result of his current state of mind. Because Norris has been repeatedly “battering” himself with criticism, Villari believes he is inevitably losing confidence and struggling to deliver the level of performance he expects from himself.
“The way he talks to himself is outrageous,” Villari said, adding that such negative self-talk is “garbage.” He emphasized that the mind eventually starts to believe what one repeatedly says to oneself.
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This is why Villari struggles to understand why Vettel is supporting Norris’ behavior. “I don’t know why Sebastian is saying some of the things he has been saying,” Villari said. “Honestly, I don’t agree with it at all from a sports psychology point of view.”
It does appear that Norris has been his own worst enemy, as there seems to be a clear correlation between how self-critical he is and the number of underwhelming performances he has delivered in the following weekends.
Even the best drivers, like Max Verstappen, have made mistakes—but the key difference is that they rarely question their abilities. That mental resilience allows them to bounce back quickly. If Norris is serious about fighting for his maiden championship this season, this is an aspect he will absolutely need to improve.
