McLaren believes Lando Norris’ more subdued reaction to his Singapore Grand Prix victory comes from his focus on “the greatest mission” that he gave himself to go for the drivers’ title.
Norris capitalized on McLaren’s advantage at the Marina Bay circuit to crush the competition by turning his pole position into a 20-second margin over Max Verstappen at the finish.
Norris, however, was very restrained in his celebrations, a constant since Zandvoort.
“The simplest thing is how much I celebrated Miami and how much I celebrated Zandvoort,” Norris had explained. “I didn’t really party at Zandvoort, I just raised my fist and smiled a little, but that’s it.”
“If I had been completely eliminated from the championship, I probably would have celebrated more, but since I know it means something to a bigger prospect, I felt like it was a smaller thing that day and that it had meaning.”
His boss, Andrea Stella, agreed with this view, saying the entire team had adopted the mindset that winning both championships was now possible.
Asked if he had seen a more serious Norris since the season resumed last month, Stella said: “In terms of celebration, in all honesty, what I see is what I listen to on the radio, in the victory lap, and then what I see when the drivers get out of the car.
“I’m busy afterwards, I’m responding to the media, I don’t necessarily get to see the whole celebration of my drivers before the podium. But yeah, let’s say in terms of celebration we don’t necessarily have the most extroverted drivers. “
“That doesn’t mean they’re not as happy as everyone else, it’s a style.”
“It’s a style that we love and it’s like we’re focused on the next goal and then the next. Because we have a bigger mission in our head.”
“So is that something that’s changed? I don’t think it’s changed, obviously, in the first win in Miami, Lando seemed pretty happy and he threw himself into the arms of his mechanics.”
“But for me, what I see in the team now is that the team looks like they’re on a mission, that makes sense.”
“And it almost feels like each of those steps is just a step. Even though when you win, you have to celebrate because it doesn’t happen all the time.”
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