Norris: I’m a guy who has to see something to believe it

Norris has a challenge on his hands for this Miami Grand Prix, as he needs to bounce back, as teammate Oscar Piastri has been enjoying a run of form, winning in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, two races the Briton should've won.

There is now doubt about Norris' speed, but his race craft was brought under question after his tussle with Max Verstappen back in 2024. He started the current F1 season as a favorite for the title, but that seems to have put him under pressure, which made him error-prone.

But perhaps Miami will be just what the doctor orders, as a win there would definitely give Norris a boost of confidence, just like it did last year when he took his maiden win.

"It always puts a smile on my face," Norris said, recalling last year. "The joy, the relief… I’m a guy who has to kind of see something to believe it, you know?

"Did I think I could win a race? Yes. But did I ever go into [one] really believing I’m going to win? No. So, after achieving one, that gave me a bit more of the belief, like, ‘Okay, I can win a race in F1, and I can beat Max’.

"Was I a bit lucky in Miami with the Safety Car and things?" the McLaren driver mused. "Yes. But that’s the way of racing. Sometimes it goes your way, sometimes it doesn’t… Sometimes you just have the boring races, and you’ve got to qualify well. At the end of the day, no matter how [I did it], I won a race in F1.

“It makes you relax a little bit more. It’s not like, ‘Is this going to be the one? Can I do it today?’ It’s ‘I did it last week, I did it a couple of months ago, I can do it again’.

"That just gives you a much better feeling coming into weekends, or during weekends, when that time might come up again.

"You get rid of the little voice that’s like, ‘Don’t mess it up now!’ It’s not the biggest change, but when that voice comes up every now and then, when you’re maybe leading the race briefly or you’re starting on pole, it helps you focus that little bit more," Norris explained.

With how things have been going lately and after losing the F1 championship lead to Piastri, the "Don't mess it up" voice must be quite loud in Norris' head.

Maybe a 2025 Miami Grand Prix win will silence that voice...

(Quotes from Formula 1 Official Website)