Randorris believes he is putting too much pressure on himself this season and needs to trust more speed towards this weekend’s Miami Grand Prix.
Oscar Piastri took the championship lead in his third victory in four races in Saudi Arabia, with Norris coming from 10th to 4th in qualifying. That came after another disappointing qualifying performance following his third place finish in Bahrain, and Norris says his pursuit of perfection is a personal approach that requires fine tuning.
“I put a little too much pressure on myself at the moment, not for a reason, not for a championship or all of these things,” Norris is quoted as saying on the official F1 website. “I want to do well, so I put too much pressure on myself.
“I want to be a pole, I want to win, I want to be perfect. I think I need to accept a little more that I won’t be perfect.
“I think the speed and speed in every race this season is the best, so I think I need to relax a little and trust my speed a little more.
His recent performance may have been influenced by his own high expectations, but Norris says he has improved in that he can turn that pressure into a positive way.
“I’ve always had a very hard time with myself, because I didn’t struggle with anyone else. I’ve never had a hard time with my team, mechanics, cars, setups. I’ve always been more involved with myself than anyone else has criticized me.
“I think there are pros and cons of such a mentality…it’s about working on yourself, so a lot of it was good. And I think I’m very good at understanding myself and why this was good and why it wasn’t, but sometimes there’s the negative side of myself being too negative and the negative side of getting into that bad little world.
“I’ve learned to use it in a good way, especially in the last six months and years, I’ve tried to use it in terms of optimizing it and making it better. I use it, acknowledge it and influence it in a negative way.
“Both aspects of my life – both Formula 1 life and at home, I feel like I’m in the best position of the year. I know I’ll make mistakes.