Norris left frustrated by run of “stupid stuff and mistakes”

Norris admits that things haven’t always gone to plan recently

Lando Norris says he’s looking forward to a reset in the Formula 1 summer break after “stupid stuff and mistakes” have hurt his title bid in recent races.

The McLaren driver started fourth in Belgium but ran wide at the exit of the first corner, and thus he was only seventh at the end of the lap.

Although the Woking team was expected before the race to have good pace relative to other top teams he had only recovered one more position, from Carlos Sainz, before the chequered flag. However disqualification for George Russell gifted him fifth place.

“I misjudged it, honestly,” he said when asked by this writer about his start. “I just didn’t want to get taken out in Turn One, so I’ve left the gap and just misjudged the exit a little bit. I lost four or five positions.

“Just impossible to overtake, the overtaking sucked today, and I think there were very few overtakes actually done on track, most of it was just in the pit stops. There were some overtakes, but only when you had like a 10-lap tyre advantage.

“So otherwise a bit of a tough race with the overtaking. And I felt like we were quick, The car was quick. Just don’t feel like we maximised what we could have done.”

Norris admitted that things haven’t gone right for him in recent weeks.

“I think I just need to reset,” he said. “I’ve given away a lot of points over the last three, four races, just because of stupid stuff and mistakes and bad starts. Turn One now.

“I don’t know why. It’s just silly things. It’s not even difficult stuff. It’s just Turn One, trying to stay out of trouble, trying to make sure there’s a gap and not get hit, and then I put myself off the track. So just some stupid things. The pace is good. The team are doing an amazing job.

“So I’m happy. And in a way, I feel like I just don’t want to take a break. I just want to continue, because we’re on good form. Even today, I felt like the pace was very strong.

“But the last two, three races, I’ve just not clicked as much as I needed to, and given up a lot of points, so hopefully I can come back stronger.”

Asked to elaborate on his issues he highlighted his starts as a key weakness recently.

“It’s many different things,” he said. “It’s just different stuff. Obviously, my starts have not been great.

“I’ve lost probably a good amount of points off the line, and now Turn One again, easily a podium or even more. So there isn’t one reason. It’s maybe just trying a bit too hard and paying the price for that.”

Regarding his plan to reset during the break he added: “Just forget about it. Still another week of debriefs and stuff, so I’m in the factory for half of next week.

“Just kind of review everything and look over everything, make sure we take a break on a good note. Which I think we have, honestly, I feel like there’s a lot of positives. Just things haven’t clicked for us.

“But I feel like we’ve still got what we need and what we want, so I’m happy we’ve got what it takes to fight and to put up a good battle. But I’ve just not been on it from my side.

“So review my things and go away and forget about it for a good time, and then come back stronger.”