Can I Be Honest? Maybe It Truly Has Become All Too Much For Little Lando Norris

Well, what a race weekend that was.

The Belgian GP has come and gone; the summer break is here and boy, do some of the drivers (and teams) need it. From rumours of Carlos Sainz securing a £10 mill, one year deal for Williams complete with clauses galore, to Mercedes pulling a rather embarrassing ballast faux pas, sure - you may be inclined to think that the focus should be on the seemingly intentional cover-up of an unintentional technical infringement. To that I say, no no. No, no. More interesting than that, was the capitulation of Lando Norris at turn 1, lap 1 - a mistake that he claims cost him his entire race.

It was just last week that over the radio, we the faithful audience learned from Lando himself, that he was in contention for the Drivers Championship; no, not the Constructors, the Drivers..yes. I know. A surprise to many. So it follows then, that after McLaren’s messy Hungarian outing, a capitalisation of sorts was expected for the Mercedes customer team. After all, they’d been given a gift in their pursuit of leaders, Red Bull. Verstappen could only start from 11th despite qualifying on pole due to a planned penalty, Perez hasn’t exactly been ‘in form’ since..well Japan to be honest, and the situation up front in terms of outright race pace created a landscape in which Lando and, according to his own words, any driver should thrive in - I mean, he had arguably now, the fastest car that only had to beat a couple of other drivers. 

Remember when he said that about Lewis in 2020? I do. It was post Portugal GP, after Lewis had added another record to his many. Lando wasn’t impressed. As far as he was concerned, that’s what he should  be doing in the fastest car. Even if we move past 2020 and focus on say, last week - where he said to Lewis in the cool down room (in the height of his emotions, mistaking compliments for..I don’t know what) that Lewis & co had had the fastest car for 7 years, and that it was his turn now. Luckily for him, Lewis has a big, purple, squishy, and at times annoyingly nice heart, and knew that it was the spirited immaturity of youth that led to that interaction, and he had no intentions of holding it against him - can’t speak for the cult of LH44 though!

Anyway, back to the boy wonder. He qualified fifth but inherited fourth due to Verstappen’s penalty; his teammate lined up alongside him, yet not only did he finish behind his teammate, he finished lower than 4th and behind his rival for the Drivers Championships. Whilst Verstappen didn’t manage to cruise his way through the field like last year, he did manage a healthy P4 due to George’s disqualification, and Lando came home in P5. The whole affair extended Verstappen’s lead in the title race, and Lando knew that he’d squandered a rare gift that will probably not come around again if RB and Max have anything to say about it.

Image: PlanetF1.com

After the race, Lando expressed that he felt overtaking was impossible and more than that, he admitted that the mistake he’d made in turn 1, lap 1 which cost him 3 places in one corner, was embarrassing. He was right. Even I felt ashamed watching the other cars file past him. He’d decided to give his tyres a good scrubbing in the gravel in an attempt to avoid any contact during a feisty opening. Maybe unlike Mercedes, he’d anticipated their ending and was trying to leave some ballast for George to pick up on his way round. Either way, by the time he’d tiptoed round the corner, he’d generously given up three places and was firmly on the back foot. Race over? Unlikely. Much harder? Absolutely.

I’m loathe to agree with his perspective about overtaking being impossible. Difficult in the dirty air and a DRS train, sure, but not impossible. If he was close enough to him on track, he could have studied Oscar’s saucy rear wing as he danced scintillatingly past the Ferrari of Leclerc, holding onto the outside corner with such ferocity, Leclerc had no choice but to yield to the Aussie. Alas, he was out of range and out of sequence, he would have to do it on his own. 

Perhaps that was the real source of embarrassment - the fact that his teammate was achieving something that he clearly could not. Like Piastri said, clean air is king and at the rare times Lando had it, he could do nothing with it. Or perhaps it was the embarrassment of knowing he’d basically added to his ridiculous turn 1 stat; you know the one where if he starts on pole he has never kept the lead into turn 1? Like ever? Now granted he didn’t start on pole, but he sure lost it into turn 1. His ability to keep adding up stats that nobody wants is absolutely unparalleled. His former nickname, unfortunately for him was Lando Nowins; it’s since developed into Lando Throwins. Devastating.

Even more devastating is his slow realisation that a fast car does not a world champion make. A reality check he seemed to be processing in the media pen.

Since his maiden win, Norris and McLaren appear to have been blighted with missed opportunities, both parties equally at fault whether it was strategy or driver error. It’s like they forget that they now have a car that can actually win races. They’ve spent years talking about the project, the development, their future. Lando signed a multi-year contract because he believed in McLaren, but at this point we may have to ask whether McLaren believe in themselves. Their midfield mentality has reared its ugly head all too often, belying the ruthlessness needed to be consistently at the top. Winning a WDC requires the full package from team to driver, and right now, it doesn’t seem as if Lando has that, nor do I think he will ever find it.

In my humble opinion that absolutely nobody asked for, Norris’ ceiling versus his teammate is much lower. If we extrapolate Oscar’s ability to learn, grow and implement changes in areas he’s targeted for improvement, my money is on him of the two drivers to win a Championship. Take Oscar’s former issues with cooking his tyres before he could finish - he knew that was an issue, it prevented wins for him in the past, he highlighted it as an area he needed to fine tune and voilà, here we are. Now when you hear Piastri’s behind and closing, its a scary sight because let’s face it, he’s coming for ya.

Piastri is an exciting talent, cool as a cucumber with a maturity that disguises his years - and honestly, Mark Webber must be proud. Speak less of Mum, Nicole.

Little Lando Norris has landed and sadly, not on his feet. Given how dazed he looked in interviews, you’d be forgiven for thinking he may have landed on his head. The self-deprecation in the media pen was uncomfortable for all, but that’s nothing new. What is new, is that McLaren have the car, the tools and on a good day, the strategy. However, what they may lack, is the driver that can just do that little bit more. That can take all of those elements, combine them together and cook up a WDC. I’m not convinced that Lando is him, and it appears that Lando may not be convinced either.

In trying to process that he is unlikely to realise his true desire of swiping the mantle from Lewis Hamilton of being the best British driver, he’s also stumbled across the well known fact that chances to win a WDC do not come around often. Especially in an era of new talent chomping at the bit, cars converging in speeds and upgrades and changing regulations. He’s ‘discovered’ in a manner akin to Columbus, something that we all already knew - winning, nay dominating - is not easy.

I almost imagine a confused Lando, head in Zaks lap saying ‘You mean to say that these guys, Hamilton, Verstappen, Vettel, Alonso, Raikkonen, Schumacher etc - they weren’t just putting their foot on the pedal to make car go vroom vroom? They use head to think think, too?’. To which I expect Zak replies, ‘Yes you sweet curly haired, Sue, yes they do’.