Lando Norris and Lewis Hamilton have similar self-critical approaches to judging their own performances, according to Mark Blundell. The McLaren driver is coming under significant pressure as he looks to hunt down Max Verstappen in the title race.
Heading into this weekend's Singapore Grand Prix, Norris finds himself 59 points behind Verstappen, although given Red Bull's historical struggles around the Marina Bay Street Circuit, Sunday represents a golden opportunity to make significant gains.
However, while Verstappen has failed to win any of the past seven races, Norris hasn't been able to capitalise fully, scoring just one victory during the same period. As a result, the 24-year-old has been vocally self-critical in media sessions, berating his performances and regularly leaving race weekends with 'what if' questions unanswered.
In a conversation with Express Sport, in association with Freebets.com, three-time F1 podium-sitter Blundell said: "I don't think so. I don't think that would be fair [to say Norris is underperforming].
"Like I say, we had Hamilton looking at himself internally to say he didn't do a good enough job, and I think that's just drivers at that level. They have high expectations and high beliefs, and when they don't get it quite right, then they feel that it's been an underperforming day. So, I don't think so.
"I think Norris actually had an outstanding Grand Prix [in Baku], from the perspective of delivery, I think he did that. Did it all come together on the day, [in] qualifying... no, but that's the luck of the draw in some ways. So, I don't think there's too much more that could be done by somebody else being plugged into the car at the moment."
Like his compatriot Norris, Hamilton has been very self-critical this season. The Brit lost the qualifying head-to-head in Azerbaijan to George Russell and heads into the Singapore weekend having outqualified his team-mate on just four occasions in 2024.
His struggles on Saturdays have led to some downbeat interviews. "I'm not very good... it's as simple as that," he said in Monza. "I'm just not very good at qualifying... I clearly have [got bad]. I can't put a lap together at the moment and it's unbelievably frustrating."
He later raged: "I'm furious. Furious. I could have been pole, I could have been... at least on the front row, and I just didn't do the job in the end." While these comments raised eyebrows, it is the Brit's perfectionist attitude that has allowed him to become a seven-time world champion, and in the long run, it may benefit Norris as well.
