“I didn’t know how to act” : Lando Norris talks about his strange week before the Abu Dhabi GP

Lando Norris claimed his maiden F1 title last year at the Abu Dhabi GP. Heading into the race with a 12-point lead over reigning champion Max Verstappen, Lando Norris reveals how he felt leading up to the race.

Lando Norris and McLaren faced a huge title challenge from Max Verstappen and Red Bull in the second half of the season. With the Dutchman once being over 100 points behind then title leader Oscar Piastri, two points was all that was left between Norris and Verstappen at the end of the season.

Lando Norris revealed that he felt very weird in the week leading up to the Abu Dhabi GP. He felt like he didn’t know if he was supposed to be excited or nervous in the most important race of his career so far. However, the Briton stated that once he got into his car, he felt calm.

“The week leading up to the biggest race of my life, I didn’t know how to be,” Norris said. “I didn’t know how to act, I didn’t know how I was meant to be. I didn’t know if I was, like, meant to be really excited. I thought I’d be pretty damn nervous, because I do – I mean, I get nervous every race, every qualifying, always, that’s a normal thing,” added Norris.

Lando Norris stated that despite feeling chaotic days before the race, he felt really calm during the race weekend. The Briton revealed that with two laps remaining in the race, he started to feel the pressure once again, as he started over-thinking about every small detail of his car.

Lando Norris finished the race in the third place, behind his teammate Oscar Piastri (P2), and his title rival Max Verstappen who won his third consecutive race. However, this was all the Brit needed to claim his maiden F1 title.

“I thought it would be a bit too chaotic for me. But in fact, getting in the car, I actually felt pretty ready. I felt very calm, just another day in the office. “I felt ready. I still knew in my head, this is it and the time had come,” he added.

“Felt like a normal race – genuinely felt like a normal race, but two laps to go, and then time starts to slow down a little bit, you start thinking of every little screw, every bolt, every wire. I’m imagining inside my car, what everything is doing. You’re in that moment of, ‘Damn, what could go wrong? Because everything’s going right’, your mind starts thinking of these little things,” Norris explained.