2026-03-07 12:34:35
Lando Norris didn’t realise how much pressure he felt until he’d clinched his Formula 1 title.
The McLaren driver won his maiden world title last season by just two points and while it felt “exciting” at the time, there was an underlying swell of emotions that had been steadily building.
Reflecting on the pressure he was under, he told The Times newspaper: “It certainly builds up, and almost without you knowing.
“More and more of your life — especially that stage [last year] when you’re fighting for a championship — becomes, ‘What can I do? What’s that next little thing you can think of that will help [you win]’, which means that as soon as it stops . . . it’s like just a big let go of everything, and you can finally breathe again.
“But it’s exciting at the time, you almost don’t realise, everything just builds slowly. When that stress all goes, and you can forget about it and just go and be with your mates and have a good time, that’s one of the best feelings.”
Norris begins the defence of his title in Australia this weekend and feels he needs to put his successful last season “behind” him already in order to focus on what’s around the corner.
He said: “That’s what is odd, there’s so much expectation of, ‘Your life’s going to change.’
“And it does — in so many ways, it does — but it also doesn’t. I’m still here and I have to do the whole thing again.
“You almost have to put it behind you. You use the positives that come with it, which is confidence and that feeling of, ‘You’ve done it once, you can do it again’. But I don’t want my team and my people to treat me any differently. I have no expectation of that.
“Naturally, there’s positives that come from it. I guess negatives is there’s more eyes on you consistently, and more natural pressure that comes with it, more expectation. But otherwise, my life’s the same, and all I want to do is enjoy it.”
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