Four reasons Lando Norris is blowing his F1 title shot [ad-free]

Mindset is a beast. What you tell yourself on a daily basis leads to your reality. So if Norris says he’s an idiot and making stupid mistakes, then it’s not surprising that he’s always making mistakes and losing confidence. He has the talent and the technical skill, but if he doesn’t believe it then everything becomes even harder to achieve. Seemingly simple to say, not so easy to do under immense pressure. But all great athletes work the mental game successfully and dedicate time to mental training.

Benefsheh Verell

Lando’s biggest weakness is self-belief, and I think it’s gotten to a point now where it’s bleeding into and affecting all areas of his racing. We know he’s capable of decisive wheel-to-wheel moves and magical qualifying laps, he just needs to believe in and trust himself more. I wasn’t really surprised that he turned down Nico Rosberg’s offer of mentorship and advice, but I really wish he took him up on it. I feel like Lando could benefit massively from someone like him in his corner.

Sidders99

No, Lando is not mentally weak. He's just not as mentally strong as Oscar.

Michael Holden

I think the driver that has consistency and a bit of luck wins the championship. So I think Oscar and Max are the standouts so far. Lando has amazing skill and talent as a driver, but cannot consistently deliver that high level performance like Max and now Oscar. If I was a betting person I would bet on Oscar or Max to win this year.

Pamela Rudolph

Jose' Cardoso

Question: Is it a reasonable hypothesis to suggest that Norris is accepting a higher degree of risk to access that pace advantage, and that's why we are often seeing mistakes with it? Or is that risk/speed tradeoff something that's not really applicable at the elite level? He just so often seems to be right on the very limit, and I wonder if it's more so than other drivers and that inevitably leads to mistakes.

Liam Banks

Norris may have made mistakes in 2024, but he was never really in a position to generate a proper challenge to Verstappen in the WDC battle. To say that Norris blew the 2024 championship greatly undervalues Max’s brilliance last year, especially early in the season. That said, if 2024 was supposed to be a preparation exercise, it wasn’t a successful one in that regard either.

Eric Bryant

* Correction, his first opportunity to win the WDC was 2024 but he blew it. This narrative that Norris was simply using 2024 to prepare for a 2025 crowning was a ridiculous rationalization.

Shrinkinator