Norris suffered from low confidence level in early F1 races

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McLaren's Lando Norris admits that he entered his maiden season of Grand Prix racing unsure whether he was actually "good enough" for F1.

Norris concluded his impressive freshman year 11th in the drivers' standings, contributing 49 points to McLaren's fourth-place finish in the Constructors' championship despite losing big points on several occasions due to reliability issues.

The 20-year-old also won the intra-team qualifying battle against highly rated Carlos Sainz.

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But looking back at the early part of 2019, Norris was anything but confident that he would be up to the task of performing at the highest level.

"I think I can be very happy from how the whole season has gone from myself and from the team," Norris said, quoted by Crash.net.

"Coming into the season, I wasn’t very confident with how I was going to do, so I’m happy I kind of proved myself wrong and have done a good job and been able to give myself more confidence and improved as a driver.

At the outset, Norris wondered if he was "going to be good enough, as simple as that". But the first few races helped alleviate his doubts.

"I didn’t know if I was going to be quick enough going up against a driver whose done four years in F1 in McLaren," he said. "And just in F1 against so many good drivers, I didn’t know if I was going to be able to do a good enough job every time.

"I just didn’t believe in myself much but already after Australia and Bahrain, I already gained a lot of confidence. It was simply not knowing if I was going to be able to keep up."

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Phillip van Osten

Motor racing was a backdrop from the outset in Phillip van Osten's life. Born in Southern California, Phillip grew up with the sights and sounds of fast cars thanks to his father, Dick van Osten, an editor and writer for Auto Speed and Sport and Motor Trend. Phillip's passion for racing grew even more when his family moved to Europe and he became acquainted with the extraordinary world of Grand Prix racing. He was an early contributor to the monthly French F1i Magazine, often providing a historic or business perspective on Formula 1's affairs. In 2012, he co-authored along with fellow journalist Pierre Van Vliet the English-language adaptation of a limited edition book devoted to the great Belgian driver Jacky Ickx. He also authored "The American Legacy in Formula 1", a book which recounts the trials and tribulations of American drivers in Grand Prix racing. Phillip is also a commentator for Belgian broadcaster Be.TV for the US Indycar series.