Lando Norris has shown an impressive improvement in his race starts so far this season compared to 2024. Following the Chinese Grand Prix, where Norris limped his car past the chequered flag in second place behind team-mate Oscar Piastri, McLaren chief Andrea Stella was quick to praise his drivers for the uptick in performance.
Norris’ 2025 so far is starkly different from his 2024 campaign, which was a study of self sabotage. Over the first 15 races, only Daniel Ricciardo had a worse start record than Norris, with the Briton struggling as he was forced to adapt to a car strong enough to finish qualifying at the front of the grid.
A lot of this was down to his mental state. Like almost all of us, the driver fought with his mental health ahead of a race, with this including feeling sick and nervous before each race.
“It’s just about how you turn that into a positive thing,” Norris said on the subject last year. “How do you not let it affect you in a bad way, and how can you actually use it in a good way, to help you focus on the correct things,” he said.
“Because I struggled quite a bit with it in the past, I feel like I’m able to deal with it in a much better way now, and therefore it doesn’t have much of an effect. I’m comfortable that I just have to go out and drive and that’s all I can do, not think about these external things. In the place I am now, fighting for wins and fighting in the championship, honestly, I feel like it’s another weekend.”
Over the summer break last year, Norris used this time as a reset after “stupid” mistakes. Now, in 2025, these mistakes are few and far between – albeit only with three races under his belt so far. Stella commented on this following China.
“The start from our two drivers was great,” he told Viaplay. “Lando gained a position. Oscar had a very good take-off from pole position. From the start point of view, we seem to be in a better situation than we were at times last year. We need to keep this trend.”
Lando Norris, McLaren, Oscar Piastri, McLaren
Photo by: Greg Baker – AFP – Getty Images
He continued:
“Hopefully, we will have starts from the front of the grid and we can consolidate on the good performance of the car,” said Stella. “Starts are one of the most important things in Formula 1, so another area where we need to check what we are doing and make sure that we are at the top.”
With what is likely a close season with the regulations being overhauled next year and cars converging on the ‘perfect’ design, both Papaya drivers will be under the pressure of perfection.
