Norris was ‘depressed a lot of the time’ in debut F1 season
The 21-year-old Briton has been vocal in his attempts to encourage people to talk more openly about mental health since admitting last year that he suffered with anxiety and self-doubt when he first joined the F1 grid.
Norris said at the time that his mental health difficulties amid a tricky rookie campaign risked affecting his second season until he began working with a sports psychologist and started using mindfulness and meditation apps on his phone.
Appearing on live television in an interview on ITV’s This Morning on Monday, Norris, who recently suffered the heartbreak of missing out on a maiden F1 victory at the Russian Grand Prix, disclosed further details of the struggles he has faced.
“I guess people from when they just watch TV, don't realise many things that a driver goes through,” Norris said.
“It's a bit of shame but there are more programmes now where you get to see what the driver is like behind the scenes, and the amount of pressure and stress that they have to cope with.
“Especially at my age, coming into Formula 1 at 19, there's a lot of eyes on you. So, dealing with all these kinds of things, took its toll on me.”
Having arrived in F1 off the back of stellar achievements in the junior single-seater ranks, Norris admitted he struggled to deal with the pressures of living up to expectations early on in his grand prix career.
“Just with feeling like I don't know what's next?” Norris explained. “If this goes wrong, if I don't go out in the next session and perform, what's going to happen?
“What's the outcome of all of this? Am I going to be in Formula 1 next year? If I'm not, what am I going to do? Because I'm not really good at many other things in life.
“So, just all of that, and then just feeling depressed a lot of the time that if I have a bad weekend, I just think I'm not good enough and things like that.
“When they start adding up over the season, and then you have the social media side of it all, that can just really start to hurt you.”
McLaren partnered with mental health charity Mind in 2020 and Norris praised the support both his team and Mind have offered him in his bid to get in a much happier headspace.
“There’s that point where you rely on them, you trust them and you do treat them like your family,” Norris said.
“We’re partnered with Mind, which also have helped me massively, and also helped many other people in McLaren. But also just in the world in general.
“So speaking to McLaren, speaking to the people that are around me and my friends that I trust, and also Mind, I'm in a much better place now and I’m much happier and I can enjoy everything I do.”
Designed by @LandoNorris and @DanielRicciardo, our t-shirts in aid of @MindCharity are now available on pre-order!
— McLaren (@McLarenF1) October 4, 2021
Too many people still aren’t getting the mental health support they need, so join us in raising vital funds for Mind this #WMHD.
