Lando Norris reveals the only moment in his career when he privately got ’emotional’ and it wasn’t his first win

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Lando Norris is now approaching 150 Formula 1 starts. His victory in Hungary just before the summer break was his ninth, while he also scored his 38th podium.

Norris managed to crack the top three for the first time at the start of his second season. In a pulsating finale at the Austrian GP, he finished within five seconds of a penalised Lewis Hamilton to snatch third place.

Norris was nicknamed ‘Lando No-wins’ by his online critics as he set the record for most podiums without a victory. But he finally reached the top step at last year’s Miami GP.

That sparked an unexpected, and ultimately unsuccessful, title challenge as he tried to reel in Red Bull’s Max Verstappen. But Norris’ chances are far stronger this year, and four victories in the last seven races – including a first win on home soil – have propelled him to within nine points of Oscar Piastri.

Lando Norris says Monaco Grand Prix pole was his first ’emotional’ moment in F1

Speaking on the ‘Quadcast’ YouTube channel, Norris said he ‘wanted to cry’ after winning in Miami but he couldn’t. It wasn’t until he took pole in Monaco earlier this year that he truly felt ’emotional’.

Norris outpaced home hero Charles Leclerc in the most important qualifying session of the year. At that point, he was on a run of six places without a pole – a sequence that included a crash during Q3 in Saudi Arabia.

The Englishman admitted that he started to question his own abilities over a single lap amid that difficult run. But in Monaco, he proved he still ‘had it’.

Norris went on to control the race and win by just over three seconds. He’s ticked off F1’s most prestigious race and his home Grand Prix in the same year.

“I don’t get emotional,” he said. “Sometimes I want to cry and I can’t. Miami, I wanted to cry, I just couldn’t!

“The only emotional moment I had was pole in Monaco. Sometimes, proving to myself that I can do it… that’s how I’ve always been my whole life.

“The majority of things are mental. That’s almost the toughest side of everything. So for me, the happiest [moment] comes from when I prove something to myself. That’s how I’ve always been driven and how I’ve succeeded.

“This year, all my qualifyings have been a little bit worse than they have in previous years, and I’ve struggled just a little bit more… every now and then you can question yourself a little bit. ‘Damn, am I just not as good as what I was last year, or have I lost a little bit, or is it because I’m not getting the correct feelings?’.

“When I’m realistic, I’m at the top level in the world against the best drivers in the world. If things aren’t perfect, I’m not going to be on pole.

“When I went to Monaco, the trickiest one of the year, so many things can go so easily wrong… that one place, qualifying’s the most important thing in the world. I went out and I proved that I’ve still got it. That was just a very cool moment for me.”

David Coulthard makes inevitable McLaren prediction as Lando Norris duels with Oscar Piastri

Norris didn’t show his emotions in Monaco – in fact, Sky journalist Natalie Pinkham remarked that he was ‘playing it cool’ afterwards. Perhaps there were wild celebrations inside the cockpit instead.

Norris doesn’t think he’ll cry if he wins the championship this year, though it looks as if the battle with Piastri is headed for a dramatic conclusion in Abu Dhabi. Many suspect that the two drivers will fall out, or come to blows on track, before that point.

David Coulthard is one of them. He says tension between Norris and Piastri will ‘inevitably’ boil over during the final 10 races.

Both McLaren drivers will be aware that it could be years before they compete for a title again, if they ever get the chance. Major regulation changes are looming, and the future in F1 is incredibly difficult to predict.