Lando Norris has debunked the notion that he has too big an ego, saying he finds that perception “bizarre”.
Norris found himself in the spotlight this season battling Max Verstappen for the drivers' championship after McLaren F1 developed its car better than Red Bull.
The driver ultimately failed in his quest, but with four wins under his belt, he helped McLaren win their maiden constructors' championship for the first time in 26 years.
During the season, Norris was occasionally criticized and had to deal with various comments from fans on social media, including the claim that he had developed too large an ego.
“I find it a little weird when I read all these things. And some of these things, I don't understand how people have this perception. And that's where I always have to come back to people who know me and who know that this is not the case.”
“When people think my ego is too big or something, nothing could be further from the truth, especially when I’m driving.”
“Sometimes I maybe choose the wrong words or something, and people use that against me.”
“I think there are more and more people in the world who don't want to listen to the truth, and sometimes when I tell the truth or the facts, people just don't want to agree with them , or they want to disagree and somehow prove me wrong.”
“I find it strange because I feel like I haven't changed. Maybe I've changed in some ways…definitely, some things have changed.”
“I don't go out joking and laughing as much as I used to, and I think people loved it and maybe they don't love it as much now as I do.”
Norris has had his share of criticism in 2024, with his detractors up in arms every time he lost his lead after pole position, or claiming he wasn't aggressive enough with Verstappen.
However, the McLaren driver knows how much he has progressed in 2024, taking his first victories and he knows very well that he has room for improvement.
“I'm always open to criticism. But I'm the one who knows better than others what I'm missing, right? So not in an arrogant way, but I know I need to improve in many areas and certain things.”
“And I feel like I've done that quite a bit already in the last three, four, five races. I feel like I've had some really good results.”
“Overall, I hope next year is a year where I can see before the first race if we are going to challenge for a championship.”
“We never thought about it before. We didn't even have the feeling from a team point of view and also for me as a driver that it could have been possible in 2024.3
“So I hope next year will be that year and we obviously have a lot of work to do this winter so that we can say from the first race 'ok, this time we are playing for both titles'.
