Kimi Raikkonen’s Ex-Coach Advises Lando Norris to Be “Kinder to Himself” Amidst Recurring Setbacks

Lando Norris is often seen being hard on himself whenever he has a poor qualifying session or race. However, it is surprising to see him in this state when he does well. One such incident happened recently at the Italian GP after he bagged the pole position on Saturday.

After his blistering final lap, Norris apologized to his race engineer Will Joseph for a “sh*t” lap. It came as a surprise to him when Joseph told him that his “sh*t” lap was good enough for pole position.

While the good thing is that Norris is always chasing perfection, it is perhaps not the best approach to be overcritical of himself. As per Kimi Raikkonen’s former coach Mark Arnall, the Briton needs to take a step back from this approach.

Speaking on former McLaren mechanic Marc Priestley’s podcast Pitlane Life Lessons, Arnall said, “It’s a really interesting one because he’s an amazing driver and he’s doing an amazing job. He’s got a quick teammate. So there’s going to be a level of rivalry and competitiveness there, which probably creates a lot of these question marks in their mind that we’re talking about now.”

“I’d just love to see him be a bit more kinder to himself at the end of the race because he drives some amazing races,” Arnall added.

Norris is currently the prime candidate to dethrone Max Verstappen from the top of the championship standings. Add to that the pressure of him making mistakes during his race starts, the Briton must have a lot going on in his mind. Hence, putting himself down for minor mistakes must only make things worse.

Lando and Oscar when asked if Mclaren should back Lando:

Norris: “It’s not up to me. I think as any driver you don’t want things to play that way. I wouldn’t say we’re running out of time but time is going away slowly. It’s not for me to decide.”

Piastri: “No comments.” pic.twitter.com/3zVpEufpZS

— McLaren News | (@McLarenF1_News) September 1, 2024

Amid all this, he has rarely received any help from McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri, who has refused to play second fiddle. The Aussie driver will continue to fight as an equal until he is mathematically out of the title contention.

Piastri and Norris go head-to-head in fight against Verstappen

McLaren won its first race of the season through Norris in Miami. That race also marked the start of the papaya team’s dominance over the rest of the grid, including Red Bull.

Incidentally, that was also the race when the reigning champions switched from a differential braking system to a simpler one, as per Peter Windsor. Red Bull mechanic Calum Nicholas has rubbished such claims, though.

McLaren’s uptick in performance, however, has come at a price. Their two drivers are going head-to-head and openly challenging each other on the track.

Those engagements may be within the “papaya rules” but a budding intra-team rivalry is the last thing McLaren would want. The level of competition between the two drivers is evident from the fact that they both scored 85 points in the last five races. Nevertheless, most F1 experts, including Nico Rosberg and Marc Priestley, have stood with Norris.

Both believe that McLaren should have discussed the championship situation with both drivers beforehand. They believe that McLaren should have instructed Piastri to help Norris defend his lead instead of battling the Briton on the first lap of the Italian GP last weekend.