“I want to do it again,” says Lando Norris, while admitting that he doesn’t possess the ‘killer instinct’ of the Schumachers and Verstappens of the sport.
“I still have many more years in Formula 1, and I will still try and get as many more championships as possible,” the Briton told reporters at his team’s Woking HQ ahead of next Monday’s official launch.
“If I never do, I’m still happy, you know? I achieved one,” he added. “And if you ever see me not smiling or something, just give me a punch or something, remind me that I achieved my goal in life. I’m very happy, I’m proud, that’s something I’ll always, forever take with me.”
Some might feel that such an attitude echoes Nico Rosberg, who sensationally retired from the sport days after achieving his lifetime’s ambition.
“As much as I say that, I don’t feel any different coming into this season. I still feel like I just want to go out and win,” Norris insisted.
“If I don’t achieve something again, I always have something that I’m very proud about, and I know is a huge achievement. But it certainly hasn’t taken away any ambition or desire to want to do it again, or to come into this season and go and to not care about it. That’s certainly not how I’ve pictured everything and seen everything.
“If anything, I enjoyed last year a lot, and of course, I want to do it again, just hopefully with a longer off season at the end of this year, would be nice. I’ve come into this year with the same ambition as I did last year, which is to try and win again.”
Minded of how the likes of Michael Schumacher and Max Verstappen approached the defence of their first titles, Norris replied: “I can’t answer what they thought, what Michael and all of those guys thought, I think it’s quite clear that I have a different mentality and a different approach to say what Max says. Good or bad, you decide.
“There’s a lot of things that I still admire about Max,” he admitted, “and I wish I had a little bit more of that, here and there. I’m always trying to improve things. I know there’s still areas that I am not at the level I need to be, it’s still a good level. But you know, when you’re fighting these guys, you need to be close to perfection.
“There are still plenty of things I want to work on and I want to be better on,” he continued, “but the baseline level of where I’m at now is already pretty good, and my motivation to win is exactly the same. I’ve definitely not lost anything, and if anything, I think I just have more confidence, because I’ve said in interviews and stuff in the past that I’m very much a guy who has to see something to believe it, especially when it’s been anything to do with myself.
“Did I believe I could be on pole for the first time or win the race? When I’ve done it, then I go, ‘now I can do it’. That’s just how I’ve, for whatever reason, fought and believed.
“I certainly have to find my own way and not disregard what other people have done in the past, but just understand what is always going to motivate me. A lot of my motivation is not a just picturing me on the top step of a podium or holding another trophy, a lot of it is being with the team and allowing them to have the trophies and party and celebrate and that kind of thing.
“Honestly, I’m not too fussed about how other people have thought about stuff, but my motivation is just as high to try and win again and do my team proud.”