The issue of age is a key one. Like others of his generation, Norris has grown up surrounded by social media, ubiquitous internet access, online gaming and chat. It's the way he's engaged with the world around him ever since he was a small boy. Verstappen is much the same, and yet no one is questioning Max's commitment to winning races and titles.
Both are avid gamers, whereas older drivers grew up in a very different world and find the whole Esports thing rather perplexing. Before competing in last weekend's Virtual Grand Prix, Jenson Button even admitted that he hadn't really played video games since he picked up early driving tips from the, umm, highly realistic Super Mario Kart as a child in the 90s!
The technology has certainly moved on since then. The breathtaking graphics and authentic car handling available in the likes of F1 2019 and iRacing are truly staggering. It means today's 'games' really are within nodding distance of the top of the line professional simulators used by racing teams, so any time invested in playing undoubtedly has a discernible real world payoff.
Do we want drivers to be as fun, accessible and engaging as the boy next door? Or remote and austere, placed out of reach on a pedestal to be revered as a paragon?
It's unlikely that the real oldtimers of the sport such as former McLaren boss Ron Dennis would see it that way. If he were still in charge, a scowling Dennis would surely be telling Norris to knock off all those unnecessary distractions and get serious about 'proper' racing. And yet Norris' enthusiastic online engagement with fans and fellow drivers across the various gaming platforms has not only significantly raised his own profile within the sport, it's also done McLaren's corporate image no harm at all. It's undoubtedly been a valuable asset to F1 as a whole in recent weeks, given the shift of focus to Esports during the enforced shutdown of real world racing as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.
So perhaps it's nothing to do with 'focus' or 'taking things seriously' at all. James Hunt was one of the most popular sportsmen the UK has ever produced, and yet his freewheeling, hard-drinking playboy approach to life was the absolute antithesis of the sober, dour, diligent model that drivers are supposed to ascribe to today.
Maybe the real question is something quite different: do we want drivers to be as fun, accessible and engaging, as Norris offers as the 'boy next door'? Or do we want them to be remote and austere, placed out of reach up on an unfeasibly high pedestal to be revered as perfect paragons and superheroes rather than mere mortals?
We've had plenty of the latter type of driver in the past, and doubtless will have more in the future. For now though Norris is something different, and we should enjoy it while it lasts - before he's inevitably forced to conform into becoming quieter, less spontaneous, more guarded and infinitely more cynical. At which point we will doubtless all start complaining about F1 not being nearly as much fun or as entertaining as it used to be: you know, like the good old times when Norris left us howling with laughter on his Twitch feed winding up his fellow drivers; or the time he teased his race engineer for crying over the team radio at the end of their final race together. Those were the days.
