“They’re enjoying their lives a lot more” – F1 funnyman Lando Norris has a message for mental health warriors, and reveals the positive impact he has had on his fanbase.
Lando Norris is the darling of Formula 1 at the moment. He is insanely popular off the race track and is complimenting that with impressive performances on the track.
His jolly nature hides a lot of the pressure he feels being an A-rated driver, racing for a giant like McLaren. What makes him feel good is the positive impact mentally he is having on his fanbase, as revealed to ESPN.
“I was different to a lot of Formula One drivers, being open about everything really, being a bit more fun, a bit more jokey, probably more just like a normal person rather than some robot walking around the paddock. I guess people already like that and it cheered a lot of people up, me having fun and seeing someone joyful and making people laugh.
“Every now and then I scroll through messages I get on Instagram just from random people, different people around the world who have messaged me. A lot of them are about them suffering from mental health, especially in the last year and a bit with COVID-19 – that’s something people have struggled with a lot more.
“I was getting messages from people saying how I’d impacted them and how me being me … how I’d changed their lives or, I guess as deep as saying, they were thinking about suicide and stuff like that, saying how I’d had an impact on changing that, saying they’re enjoying their lives a lot more.
“Seeing a lot of those messages and learning about that made me realize I can use my platform a lot more to speak up about it because it’s things I’ve struggled with in the past, and [it’s about] knowing and learning how much of a difference I can have on people around the world.
“That’s when I started speaking out about it a bit more and realizing that maybe it’s not always the nicest thing to talk about, but it’s something where I can help a lot of other people out.”
