Why Norris was right to use his ‘No-Wins’ haters’ goading to right a series of F1 wrongs

"I could still see Max. And when you can see Max, there's hope."

Lando Norris – Formula 1’s 114th grand prix winner – has a very engaging style. The above came early in his post-2024 Miami GP press conference appearance, fresh from another podium appearance alongside Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc.

But this occasion marked the first time the Briton had visited the top spot in F1. So, of course, he threw his first winner’s trophy high in the air, of course, he refused to change out of his champagne-soaked overalls, of course, he delayed the presser by giving lengthy and effusive answers to the TV crews nestled outside within one of the Hard Rock Stadium’s gigantic helix ramp.

When he did finally bounce into the room to join Verstappen and Leclerc – the former having autopiloted himself into the winner’s sofa spot he so usually occupies – it was always going to be a long appearance.

PLUS: The three factors that mean Norris's Miami F1 win can't be cast as a safety car fluke

Leclerc had to sit through 20 minutes of questions to the other two. And while Verstappen got just two of the 10 'floor' questions asked in this 30-minute appearance, he contented himself to ribbing his winning friend whenever possible. Verstappen helpfully pointed out that Miami was a far superior place to party after a first F1 win, even without a raucous home crowd to see that first glory, as Norris had ideally wanted at Silverstone.

The main takeaway from the winner was the relief this achievement provides.

To many F1 observers, they shared in Norris’s delight as it broke the Red Bull monotony once again in 2024 – something that looked unlikely when Verstappen led the race’s opening phase. Columns lambasting the worsening of F1’s sprint format were being conceived in those opening 22 tours…

Norris and Verstappen sat alongside each other in the post-race press conference

Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images

Norris spoke as eloquently and vociferously as ever. This he hasn’t changed all through his 110 F1 GP starts – the 24-year-old is never one to shy away from even tricky answers.

Did the victory feel like a weight off his shoulders? We know how Verstappen, the master of emotional concealment, would’ve replied.

“As much as I want to say no, it's a yes,” said Norris.

"We knew as soon as we made winning material available to Lando, he would have delivered." McLaren team principal Andrea Stella.

His McLaren team boss, Andrea Stella, went further: “It was a bit of a weight on his shoulders, but it was a weight on our shoulders as well because we knew as soon as we made winning material available to Lando, he would have delivered. So, we felt the responsibility and I have said that many times. That it is up to us, it is not up to Lando.”

Norris also dished out a detailed peak into his psyche and his approach to life as an F1 star.

He’s already won fame and infamy (to the fragile few) for engaging with his critics on social media. He’s not afraid to confront the odd clumsy tweet – just ask our social media team! – nor “go on Instagram and like all the comments of people abusing me”.

“I freaking love it,” Norris continued. “It makes me smile more than anything, especially ‘Lando No-Wins’ [a tag previously regularly used to discredit the Briton by ill-informed morons].

Norris embraces McLaren team principal Stella after victory

Photo by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images

“That's become the thing. And yeah, for me to finally prove those people wrong and prove to people that didn't think I could go out and do it, it's put an even bigger smile on my face today. So, I thank all of them.”

There were more specifics Norris wanted to address.

How “a lot of people doubted" when "I said we could win [2024] races" – a comment made ahead of the Chinese GP round. That his Shanghai sprint off from pole against Hamilton meant his critics felt he couldn’t “perform under the pressure of leading the race”. And that “a lot of people talk crap about Sochi and the things which went on” in his losing of the 2021 Russian GP he’d long led ahead of Lewis Hamilton.

Stella too, wanted to alter the narrative of this near miss, which came just one race on from Norris backing off behind Daniel Ricciardo in McLaren’s last GP victory at Monza 2021. That in turn had followed another potential Norris glory moment lost – albeit in more murky circumstances of the Spa washout and his big Q3 crash.

“[Sochi] was even a bit of a turning point for Lando himself and for the team in terms of how we have to operate when the pressure rises,” Stella said – before going on to reference how McLaren had failed to tell Norris of the second major rain spell arriving at the 2014 Winter Olympics venue, as Mercedes critically did that day for Hamilton and the seven-time world champion’s 100th GP triumph.

“But if I go back to that race, I think the responsibility is on the pitwall because we didn't enforce the call to pit enough. The driver on track, he doesn't see if it's raining somewhere else. We could see it, so it was our limitation in not forcing Lando to pit.”

There were negative moments of Norris’s famous weekend. His comments regarding a former US president facing four criminal cases and already found liable for sexual abuse were ill-judged, to say the least. Plus, on-track, he must share in the blame for falling from a dominant sprint qualifying position to starting the first race just ninth and exposing himself to chaos in the pack. At least on that tricky SQ3 softs flier he thrillingly saved at least five moments that threatened to send his MCL38 to the barriers.

Norris meeting Trump alongside FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem.

Photo by: Steven Tee / Motorsport Images

But these barely diminish Norris’s Miami glory. Something he finally reached having made the steps on elevating consistency and getting even better at in-race tyre management that he’d been targeting when we spoke on his final visit to the McLaren factory of 2023.

His efforts to “rid of a lot of my weaknesses” left him “more confident than ever”, which is saying something given his irrepressible style and speed.

“This year I've been much better with just kind of keeping my mind focused and focusing on my job,” he added. “I'm doing a good job. I'm fast and I'm executing things exactly how I want to do. All that hard work has paid off.”

It was clear last December that Norris wasn’t going to change his hyper-critical mindset – something Stella felt last year was overly “harsh on himself”.

“I'm doing a good job. I'm fast and I'm executing things exactly how I want to do. All that hard work has paid off.” Lando Norris

And indeed, Norris credits his mistake-owning attitude for exactly why he was finally able to shed his previous record of having the most F1’s podiums without a win. Back to Nick Heidfeld that unwanted mantle goes…

“I'm still going to be that guy,” he concluded. “I don't think that's going to change. I'm still going to be glass-half-full because for me, that's what works for me. That's my mindset.

“Everyone has their own way of doing things, their own approach, their own way that they talk to themselves and think ‘how can I approach today? How can I go out and do the best job?’

Norris on track at the Miami GP

Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images

“For me, it's talking down at myself and kind of putting myself down because for me that's what works and I'm fine with that. Like, I don't need other people to be happy with it and for other people to agree with it. It's what's best for me and it's what works best and made me who I am.

“That’s my best way of going forward. So, I'm going to have my days when the glass is full and I can be happy and I'm proud of myself. Everyone's going to have those days and everyone should have those days. But in order to make myself the best man, the best driver, I have my way of doing things and I stick to that.”

Fast, fearless, fighting his foolish critics. That’s Lando Norris, F1 race winner.

Norris celebrates with his McLaren team

Photo by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images

Watch: F1 2024 Miami GP Review - Lando Seizes his Historic Maiden Win