Landos Norris has admitted he must be more consistent if he wants to take the title fight to points leader Max Verstappen once the 2024 Formula 1 season resumes.
Norris bagged his first win at Miami earlier in the season, and McLaren now appears to be the dominant package on the grid.
However, crucial errors, notably some very weak race starts, have cost Norris some wins and crucial championship points.
With a championship run on the cards for the second half of the season, Norris says that it’s consistency, rather than one specific improvement, that he needs to deliver.
“A place I need to improve… there isn’t a [general] singular thing. It’s consistency,” he revealed in an interview with RacingNews365.
“I definitely think a little bit of just cleaning a few areas. My starts, that kind of thing.
“It’s not like I’m doing this every time wrong in my starts, or this every time wrong when I’m leading.
“I really don’t think it’s got anything to do with pressure or being in a position I’ve not been in for a while.”
While Norris doesn’t think pressure is disrupting his performances, he admits a lack of intensity could be to blame.
“Honestly, I was pretty chilled [in Hungary], I probably was the most chilled, maybe that’s the problem? It wasn’t that, it’s just there’s been different reasonings almost every time.”
Norris won the race in Miami, but he has failed to convert poles in both Barcelona and Hungary, ceding the lead to team-mate Oscar Piastri at the start at the latter.
Despite this, Norris remains confident and believes he’s nearly there.
“It’s just about bringing all of it together and just tidying it up a touch,” he added.
“But on 95 per cent of things, I feel like I’m in a good position. I know I’ve only won one race. I see a lot of people saying, ‘Oh, he’s only won one race’, that kind of thing.
“I won one race, but we’re still in the fight. And sometimes it’s not always about winning as much as you always want it to be.
But for the most part, I’ve been there, second, first, third, second, third, fourth, second, third.
“And that’s also a big part of the championship, not just having one amazing race and going, ‘we nailed that’ and then having an absolute shocker the next one.
“What’s been a bad weekend for us and for me at the minute, it’s been first, second, third, fourth, pretty much the whole time. I’m pretty happy.”
Norris will arrive at Zandvoort 78 points adrift of Verstappen, but the Dutchman will take some beating on home soil, where he has won three successive races since 2021.
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