‘I always make myself look like an idiot’ - Norris on tense team radio exchange

The McLaren driver expressed his disapproval of his team’s decision not to initially pit for intermediate tyres as early rain fell during last weekend’s race at Zandvoort. 

When Norris did eventually switch to inters, it was too late. The Briton tumbled down the order and missed an opportunity to potentially finish on the podium, having started second. 

Norris vented his frustrations about McLaren’s hesitancy to pit on Lap 3, with his race engineer Jose Manuel Lopez on the receiving end. 

“So box mate, we’re too slow!” Norris said, to which Lopez replied: “We’re faster than Inter cars.”

Norris responded: “What the f***? Are you stupid?” 

Speaking ahead of this weekend’s Italian Grand Prix, Norris acknowledged he is guilty of letting his emotions get the better of him. 

“We just spoke about it a bit now and there’s always a few days of reviewing things and making sure we look at things first. 

“When you look at it after, I always make myself look like an idiot and I get that, but the people that I speak to know that I never mean something like that of course. 

“We made some mistakes with our calls and our strategy and things like that. A bit of it was just emotions at the time. I always sound like I’m crying or moaning on the radio but I don’t know why. I hate it. 

“I feel like I’m always relaxed in the car but I’m always the opposite when I listen to myself after. There’s just always discussions and things you are trying to tell them. 

"The information was not to the level it should have been, clearly. I guess it gets a little bit frustrating at times. It will be reviewed and it definitely won’t happen again.”

Asked if he feels his team radio comments are something he needs to work on, Norris replied: “No I think my team know. 

“People always judge things from the outside and like to make comments, but the team know how I work and how I say things and so forth. 

“I think in that moment I was a bit frustrated with what I was getting told and some things like that. I’m not denying at times, and also in the past, when you are under pressure and it gets a bit stressful at times, and I maybe I don’t sound the most relaxed. 

“But a lot of the time I am and it maybe doesn’t come across that way, especially if you are on the outside listening to these things. But the team know how I work and when I’m performing well and when I’m not. 

“They know how I work, it’s as simple as that. As long as they know that and how they speak to me and how we interpret things, that’s all that from my side is needed. 

“From what people see on the outside, I care but in a way I don’t care because I’m just doing my job to the best I can.”