Lando Norris has downplayed the impact that the experience he gained from his forlorn Formula 1 championship hunt in 2024 has had on his comeback this season.
This time 12 months ago, Norris entered the Sao Paulo Grand Prix with an outside title chance that was all but dashed when Max Verstappen secured a stunning win.
But with McLaren making a stronger start to 2025, Norris has returned to Brazil atop the standings, albeit with a much narrower advantage than Verstappen last term.
However, like in 2024, Norris has also spent an elongated period as the hunter, having been behind his team-mate Oscar Piastri since mid-April until the previous race.
The gap had extended to 34 points when Norris retired in Zandvoort, but an incredible turnaround has seen him turn that into a one-point lead over the past five races.
Norris, though, has dampened the notion that being able to draw on a comparable situation to last season had a huge bearing on his success in chasing down Piastri.
“I don’t know, I wouldn’t say there’s nothing in the front of my head that goes, ‘I’m doing this, I’m making these decisions now because of last year’,” he told media including Motorsport Week.
“I think maybe there are some more subconscious things, maybe things that I already thought of earlier in the season that were embedded.
“No, I think [I] just to try and have confidence in myself and believe in myself that I can go out and do what I’ve done, like last weekend.
“I think when I have a weekend like last weekend, I still prove a bit to myself that I can go out and I can dominate a weekend, and that’s a very nice thing to think of.
“So I guess, yeah, it’s nice to still prove to myself every now and then what I’m capable of and what I can achieve.
“But that’s it, and like I’ve always said, and I think I’ve probably said every single weekend this year, it’s one race at a time,
whether it was good or bad, you take the learnings on board and forget about it, have a day off and then come and try and do better.
” Yeah, I don’t know specifically what last year has given me that I’m improving this year, but experience is always going to be a good thing.
“So I’m sure there’s little things here and there in the back of my mind that come and go that might help me make better decisions here and there.
“But I think also just consistency. Consistency has been, it’s not like I’ve won the last six ever races, but I’ve been consistently out there,
consistently scoring points, and that’s actually the thing that’s given me the biggest boost over the last two weeks.”
How tempered emotions have helped Norris to thrive
However, Norris has recognised that he has become better at processing his emotions to remain level-headed across each race weekend as he chases a maiden title.
“I think it’s difficult because there’s certainly some periods that were much tougher then which I’ve worked hard to try and avoid as much as possible, so I’ve not had to deal with them.
“I certainly think my mentality and just general emotion, in a way, has gone down. I think that’s a good thing for me.
“Not that I’m an emotional person, but I care. So I think in terms of removing some of those cares, I think it’s helped. And that allows me just to, yeah, forget what I won last weekend.
“An incredible race win in Mexico. It’s a very small achievement, not a bigger puzzle, I think.
“When fighting for 10th more often or something and you win a race, it’s incredible.
“When there’s a much bigger picture in mind, then it feels like it means a lot less for a small amount of time.
“But I certainly feel like I can deal with a lot more now than what I was doing at the beginning of the season,
but I was also dealing with a lot more difficulties at the beginning of the season than I am now.
“So it’s difficult, but I would say I’m in a much better space than I was back then, for many different reasons.
“I definitely would say I’m much better now than what I was. It’s all part of learning.
“So I wish I could have changed some things, maybe. But would I be as good now as if I didn’t learn those things back then? Probably not.
“It’s all part of learning over time and making mistakes.”
READ MORE – Lando Norris dispels notion over F1 championship comeback
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