Lando Norris may still be in the lead of the World Drivers’ Championship, but that hasn’t stopped frustration from creeping in when he hasn’t lived up to his own expectations.

But after a uniquely challenging weekend in Bahrain, the McLaren driver is trying out a new mindset heading into Saudi Arabia.

Lando Norris trying to ‘think of the positives’ heading into Saudi Arabia

Additional reporting by Thomas Maher

After winning the 2025 season opener in Australia, McLaren driver Lando Norris has retained his grasp on the championship lead — but only just. Since that first event, though, teammate Oscar Piastri has often risen to the occasion with more consistent performance that have made him the first driver with two wins on the year.

In Bahrain, a challenging qualifying session followed by a penalty meant Norris could only manage a third-place finish. He was hard on himself throughout the weekend, claiming that he felt like he’d never driven an F1 car before and that he was unable to perform for the team.

But in the build-up to Saudi Arabia, Norris confessed to taking three days off to “reset,” which has helped him change his mindset.

“I think with every athlete’s mind and every driver’s mind, as much as you try to get away, you’re still thinking of a lot of things,” he said of his brief rest period.

“So a lot of my time was still thinking of the difficulties I’ve been struggling with.

“But at the same time, it’s still been a very good start to the year. I’ve tried to force myself to think of what a success the start of the season has a been.

“Yes, I know it could have been better — but still leading the championship after not being happy, after not feeling comfortable in the car; it’s still a start to the year I would have dreamed of before the season started.

“I think I try to remind myself of the positives, which there have been quite a few of.”

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He noted that, though he did spend time thinking of the positives, he also thought about the “issues” plaguing his current performance, as well as “the reasoning behind it all.”

“I think we’re along the right track,” he said. “I think we started to figure out some things on where I struggle, why I struggle, the reasonings for these struggles, and already trying to implement things for this weekend. I’m trying to improve in some of those areas.”

While Norris declined to comment on any specific details about where he’s found his performance lacking, he admitted that the nature of McLaren’s MCL39 has exacerbated this problem.

“It’s not like I’m gonna come into this weekend, and I’m full of confidence, and I know things are going to turn around,” he said.

“I still think there are things that I’m going to be struggling with, because certain things you cannot change at the minute, but there are certain things that I’m able to maybe re-look into from my own approach point of view, from a driving style point of view — stuff which I fully never had to think of necessarily before.

“It’s just not my normal way of driving or thinking.”

The big issue here, according to Norris, is that this “is completely different to last season,” where he was able to perform at a high level without thinking too deeply about how to control the car.

“My level of confidence was very high at the end of last season, not for any other reason bar I just understood the car and I understood how to drive it, and I could go out and execute things perfectly.

“Now I cannot just because my feelings are not there, my way of driving is not suited at all, and I just hate not being able to know how I’m going to go out and perform.”

He went on to clarify that “the fact that I’m still leading the championship, the fact that the start of the year has not been dreadful, probably gives me more hope than anything else that if I can get things to click and move in the right direction, then I’m hopeful that I can still become much stronger.”

Norris acknowledged his tendency to think more of the negatives than the positives, which means he often needs to be reminded that all is not as bad as it seems.

“I think that attitude is probably something I need to improve and work on,” he admitted.

“I just want to do well, and I wand to get the most out of every session.

“I want to achieve my potential, and at the minute, I’m just not achieving my potential, and there’s no reason for me to be happy with that.”

Even as he acknowledged the negatives, Norris seemed set on making the point that he would also do better to weigh them against the positives, going so far as to say that if he knew he’d have won the season opener and led the championship for four races before 2025 kicked off, then he would have been happy. In the moment, he’s found it more challenging.

Nevertheless, this marks a dramatic shift in mindset when compared to the start of Bahrain; whether or not it has an impact on his performance remains to be seen.

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