Part of Lando Norris’s attraction to his fans, and a statement on his decency as a man, is his openness.
But hearing him talk of how he gets so nervous before races that he cannot eat or drink, it was difficult not to think he betrayed a weakness he can ill-afford in his flickering world championship fight.
‘I get so nervous for qualifying,’ he admitted in Monza on Thursday. ‘For the races, I get just as excited and nervous. I don’t eat anything on Sundays. I struggle to drink.’
More buttoned-up forebears – Michael Schumacher, Fernando Alonso, Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen – would never have revealed the same for fear of looking vulnerable to their rivals.
Would any of them even suffer from the same affliction of nerves?
Lando Norris has revealed how on the day of racing he struggles to eat or drink due to nerves
Norris can put further pressure on the world title race if he wins this weekend’s Monza GP
Norris has a different mental approach to that of fellow British driver Lewis Hamilton (right)
It is hard to believe they would. Schumacher, a beast of a competitor, flew straight over from his mother’s bedside, hours after she died, to win the San Marino Grand Prix the next day. Admittedly, tears rolled down his face. There was emotion there behind the Teutonic mask.
Alonso, the inscrutable machine, doesn’t possess nerves. Hamilton, more sensitive than Alonso, is a harder-than-nails racer. Verstappen was born, and reared, to race and no aspect of his craft causes him to fret. He is as close to fearless as it comes.
Even Nico Rosberg, an underrated champion, didn’t let slip how hard he found it taking on Hamilton during their time together at Mercedes until he had screwed every last ounce of mental fortitude to take the title in the closing race of 2016.
Max Verstappen (pictured) is different to Norris and you sense the Red Bull champion doesn’t face similar nerves
Norris’s openness, which has seen him talk before of his mental struggles, fits an age when sharing inner turmoil is hailed
Norris has his sights firmly locked on ending Verstappen’s three-year stranglehold on the F1 world championship
Within the week, he had retired. As Roberto Duran shouted under an onslaught from Sugar Ray Leonard: ‘No Mas.’
Rosberg told me he took after his German mother rather than his gruffer father, Keke.
Norris’s openness, which has seen him talk before of his mental struggles, fits an age when sharing inner turmoil is hailed. Who is to say his approach won’t help him? It’s just that it is a different language from the past.
A ROYAL REQUEST
If only Princess Anne had been on the red-eye flight from London to Milan on Thursday.
For a reason I shall explain that’s because when you wake at 4.30am and board before seven you don’t welcome infernal announcements interrupting your dozing.
Especially when you are being informed it is a no-smoking flight – haven’t they all been for about 30 years? – and promised a ‘complimentary’ bottle of water as if it’s the Elgin Marbles.
Princess Anne once gave the order that verbiage over the public address on a plane was unwelcome
Not wishing to drop names, but I was with her HRH on flight BA 2012 that transported the Olympic flame from Greece to Britain for the torch relay. She had given the order that verbiage over the public address was unwelcome. I’m with you, ma’am.
MONZA COULD SCRAP PRESS DIGS
Monza drips with charm and history. Our media centre overlooks the pit straight which is flooded by a sea of red fans after the race. It’s some scene. A moving one for it represents a nation’s love affair with Ferrari, whatever you think of them.
Nice pasta and tiramisu were laid on for us hacks on Thursday, but a worrying rumour circulates that our space will be requisitioned to house VIPs paying top dollar from next year.
My pal in the Italian press corps, Daniele Sparisci, tells me nothing is decided yet. The campaign for preservation is on.
The luxurious Monza circuit could scrap the current press room next year to make way for top-paying VIPs
F1 stars Sergio Perez (left) Alex Albon (middle) and Norris (right) take part in Thursday’s press conference
Formula One’s longest servant
Who has been to the most Formula One races than anyone ever? A compelling answer was the great Herbie Blash, deputy race director to the highly respected Charlie Whiting. Both were Brabham boys under Bernie Ecclestone.
I suggested to Bernie once that Herbie was top of the list. ‘No, I think I am,’ said the sport’s former impresario. He reasoned that he was at the first world championship race at Silverstone in 1950 and so had the edge.
While Nino Farina triumphed for Alfa Romeo in the inaugural British Grand Prix, 19-year-old Ecclestone slept in his car the night before competing in the Formula Three race. He lost to a 20-year-old called Stirling Craufurd Moss. But there was no shame in that.
On Thursday, at Pirelli’s garage a commemorative paddock pass was awarded to the member of the media room who has attended most races: Giorgio Piola. A revered technical illustrator, he has notched 900 races, dating back to the 1969 Monaco Grand Prix. He was 19 then.
No luck for Logan
Logan Sargeant has been dropped by Williams to be replaced by Franco Colapinto, a 21-year-old Argentine competing in Formula Two. Neither driver has a chance to fill the team’s race seats next year, with Carlos Sainz coming in to partner Alex Albon.
Yes, Sargeant was accident prone to say the least, but the mid-season rejigging to no obvious end is baffling. Is Colapinto an improvement? And does he need to be drafted in so fast?
Logan Sarjeant (right) has lost his seat at Williams after being axed to be replaced by 21-year-old Argentine Franco Colapinto (left)
The race for Adrian Newey’s signature
Adrian Newey was courted by Ferrari to such an extent that sources in Italy told me that a deal to sign him was already in place. But now Aston Martin and Alpine are the frontrunners, with Ferrari’s overtures seemingly rejected.
While money talks, would work conditions at Alpine – being stitched back together by the wily goat Flavio Briatore – suit the 65-year-old super-designer so much better that he would go there?
‘He may find he is micromanaged at Aston,’ one observer told me, nodding in the direction of owner Lawrence Stroll.