Norris now 'a bit more precise' and assertive with McLaren

Lando Norris says the respect he gained from his team after his maiden season in F1 has incited him to be more assertive and precise with McLaren's engineers.

At just 19, Norris was promoted to a race seat with the Woking-based outfit, an endorsement he justified by acquitting himself well and contributing 49 championship points to McLaren's tally in the Constructors' standings.

With a year of experience under his belt and a positive stature within his team, Norris feels his views are now being taken more into account, which in turn has encouraged him to voice his opinion and ideas with more confidence.

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"Just because I've done it for a year, people gain a bit of respect and therefore listen to you at the same time a bit more," Norris told Motorsport.com.

"I mean, I don't know if I'm classed as a veteran, but I feel more confident within myself and I think at the same time just because you're in year two, and with McLaren as well, then you are kind of seen as a bit more of a professional in some ways, not someone who was just there for one year, and you gain a bit of respect.

"People listen and then you do become in a way that bit more of a spokesperson where people rely on you, they listen to you and they take actions from things you say.

"At the same time, you know, say you're leading the car developments and you're leading the engineers and aerodynamicists and if they want to develop the car in a certain way, and you know your actions and things you say have consequences, not consequences, but they lead to things going better and or maybe worse, basically.

"So yeah, I do need to be a bit more precise with the things I say and not just be kind of a rookie and always saying, 'yes' and agreeing with everyone."

Having gained in confidence and experience after his maiden campaign, Norris says he felt "in a much better place coming into my year two, with knowing things I needed to work on".

"And that just allowed me to have a better strategy, a better focus on pre-season testing, knowing those areas that I needed to work on," he added.

"And that made it much easier in terms of setting our goals, what things we wanted to achieve, and so on.

"That just allowed me to feel more confident with what I was doing with what the team was doing.

"And mentally, it just put me in a better place for pre-seasong testing and going into Australia [for the aborted 2020 season opener].

"So I just need to make sure that I continue that, and then I continue that once we start racing again."

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