Lando Norris has revealed the pressures he felt in debut season of Formula 1

McLaren star Lando Norris has opened up on how he dealt with the pressures of his first season in Formula 1, speaking to the High Performance Podcast.

Norris is embarking on his fourth year in the sport in 2022, which is pretty impressive given he is only 22-year-old.

He’s shown his talent in that time, though, with multiple podium finishes along the way.

When it all started for him at the Australian Grand Prix in 2019, though, he admits the pressures and struggles of his first year were certainly stark.

Read more: The High Performance Podcast hub

 Speaking to Jake Humphrey on the High Performance Podcast, Norris explained:

“I think all of it would already start at the first race. Just like we kind of spoke about the amount of people which are here working on everything, and like at that point I just feel like just another driver and I don’t feel like I’m way better than everyone else at this point or necessarily believe I’m much better than everyone else at this point.

“But like I’m on the grid, and I just think like so many people are watching me. I have so much to deliver for the whole team. And I am a new driver in Formula One. There are a lot of eyes on me. There are expectations. You don’t wanna let McLaren down, one of the most historic teams in Formula One. So like that already just puts that pressure on.

“The media is one of the biggest things, how the media portrays you is one of the biggest things. So when things start to go wrong, when he makes a couple of mistakes and the media have a little dig at you and then fans and people on social media start to have a more of a dig at you, that’s when that self doubt that sometimes I would have, like that grows when people kind of just add on to that.

“I struggled