Ahead of the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, Lando Norris discussed his mental health journey
Lando Norris has opened up about his mental health journey before, such as talking about his struggles during his rookie season in Formula 1, or looking back ahead of last year regarding his willingness to discuss such topics. But Thursday at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix Norris did so again, albeit on different footing.
He did so for the first time as an F1 race winner.
Norris was asked about his willingness to discuss his mental health journey during the FIA Press Conference by Moritz Steidl of Servus TV, and the McLaren driver discussed his support system, which has helped him take a more positive outlook.
He started with a jab at fellow driver, and former teammate, Daniel Ricciardo.
“Definitely not Daniel,” joked Norris.
“How can I see it as a glass half full? It’s only one race and I want another one. I don’t know. How would I put it? I was still lucky in the race. I don’t think it was just a lucky win. I think because every race Safety Cars are a big part of it,” said Norris. “You plan for them, those kind of things. But it wasn’t like I was pole and led from the beginning. So that’s all. The next target is to be at the front from the start, to not have a Safety Car help me out and those types of things. But yeah, it’s also just one weekend.
“Formula 1 is not just about one weekend. I know a lot of people only like to talk about one weekend at a time, but I think you learn to think about a much bigger picture. That was back in Miami and now we’re here in Imola. So it could be that we go out and we’re the third best team again and we’re too far behind Red Bull or Ferrari to even challenge for a podium.”
The McLaren driver then elaborated on the lessons he has learned through the years, and the support system he has in place for advice.
“So I think, yeah, you just take one block at a time. You celebrate it or you learn from it, whatever the case is, and you move on to the next one. Yeah, simple as that, honestly,” added Norris. “But I think I’ve got to a point where, honestly, I’m always accepting help from people and advice and I speak to whoever it will be, whether it’s [McLaren CEO] Zak [Brown] or my dad or my mom or family or friends whoever it is.
“I’m always very happy to kind of take advice from them and listen to what people say but also I can do things my own way and I like to do things my own way. I feel like I’m at a point where I can deal with the good times and I can deal with the bad times. Everyone deals with them differently. But yeah, I don’t have to go out and look for this kind of support,” concluded Norris. “I feel like I’m in a much better place than I was a few years ago. I’ve just matured and got the experience of it that I can deal with myself and be happy, celebrate it, but then return back to normality and focus on the next one.”
Norris made waves in the wake of his rookie season when he discussed how he struggled mentally, and began to doubt his abilities as a driver. “I did struggle a lot in the beginning of the season with just how much pressure [there was] and the things I’d got to live up to,” Norris said back in 2020 to Greg Stuart of F1.com. “I didn’t believe in myself, that I was going to do a good enough job basically, and then I didn’t know what I would do if it didn’t go well. So I did suffer a lot in the beginning of the season just with a bit of everything – I don’t know what exactly but just everything combined, I struggled mentally because of that.”
Over the years Norris has taken a leadership role within F1 as a champion for those dealing with mental health struggles, as the driver worked with McLaren’s mental health charity Mind. Norris also drove a customized helmet at the British Grand Prix featuring messages of support for frontline workers. The helmet was auctioned off to support Our Frontline, a charity that provides mental health support for frontline personnel:
Photo by Dan Istitene – Formula 1/Formula 1 via Getty Images
That season, Norris discussed how his willingness to discuss his own mental health struggles has helped others.
“I think, first of all, I’m very happy to see more and more people speaking out about it. And realising it’s only going to benefit them and benefit others; I don’t think there’s any negatives, really, from doing so: it’s only going to help you get better and it’s only going to help if you have a big following, if you have a lot of people watching or whatever it is, you’re only going to help people who are also struggling,” said Norris.
“It’s basically when I would hint at it, for example the first few times, before I was speaking about it publicly, a few of them saying it’s helping them or the impact it had on them – and over time raising the impact I can have on those thousands of people is huge,” continued Norris.
“When I started to get messages of me helping them out or making them feel much better or their friends or family or whatever, that’s like a pretty amazing thing to see how much you can help some other people,” added Norris. “So the more I saw that, the more I really realised the impact I can have and the place I am in Formula 1, in my life with the followers I have, with the fanbase I have… So therefore I thought it better to speak about it more publicly, and worldwide and so on, and try and help as many people as possible.”
Thursday in Imola, Norris continued his effort to help as many people as possible.
This time doing so for the first time as an F1 grand prix winner.
