Four-time Formula 1 world champion Sebastian Vettel says Lando Norris has been “courageous” and will “inspire” children by speaking openly about his feelings.
The McLaren driver’s honesty with the media over the last few seasons has been a contentious topic, with some believing that his approach displays weakness and will encourage rivals.
However, Vettel, who won four successive drivers’ titles for Red Bull from 2010-2013 before retiring in 2022, has spoken out in defence of the Brit.
Speaking in Saudi Arabia ahead of last week’s Grand Prix, Vettel told Sky Sports F1: “We’re all having good times and bad times, whether we are Formula 1 drivers or having a regular job. Aren’t we all like that? We have better days and worse days.
“The threat now is that people talk about what he’s maybe going through, and interpret it as a sign of weakness. Like, ‘Why is he doing that? What’s going on with him? What’s wrong with him?’
“Nothing’s wrong with him. I think everybody’s going through the same things in different phases of your life. Self-doubt is the most natural thing there is, but it’s the most unnatural thing to talk about, and that is wrong.
“So, I think it’s completely fine and I think it’s very courageous of him to open up and talk about that side of him. And I wish and I hope that the media picks it up and turns it a little bit around.”
Sebastian Vettel has launched his Race4Women event in an effort to increase female participation in motorsport.
‘Norris’ approach will inspire young kids’
After claiming his first F1 victories last season as McLaren won the Constructors’ Championship, Norris began 2025 facing more attention than ever before having been installed as favourite for the drivers’ title.
He has endured an inconsistent start to his campaign, struggling to extract optimal performance from his McLaren since impressively winning the opening race in Australia. He lost the leadership of the world championship for the first time to team-mate Oscar Piastri last Sunday after finishing fourth in the Jeddah race following a crash in qualifying.
Karun Chandhok was at the SkyPad to look back on Lando Norris’ massive crash during qualifying for the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.
Norris has spoken openly on several occasions about how he deals with pressure, for example, last season revealing that he can “barely eat” on the day of a race.
Vettel believes Norris should be heralded for leading a new generation of drivers who discuss their feelings, with the German also name-checking his former rival Lewis Hamilton as another positive role model.
“Now you go back one or two or three generations, it was a weakness to talk about your emotions,” Vettel said. “It was a weakness to hang out with your rivals after the race, because they’re your rivals.
“‘I want to beat the guy and push him off the track. Why should I hang out with him and invite him for dinner? That makes me soft.’ Is that true? I think if you look at the generation today in charge now, they have progressed so much and I think we should celebrate the fact that they are getting along with each other, they are getting together.
Lando Norris joked he’s making life tough for himself after just missing out on the podium at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.
“They still have the rivalry on track, they still want to beat the other guy, 100 per cent, but also have the courage to speak about their emotions, their weaknesses, that they might feel lost, the pressure that they feel.
“I think it’s great and it inspires young kids to do the same, and isn’t that healthy, when you don’t feel as a child that you have to keep it to yourself and you can’t open up.
“But now because Lando Norris is doing it, or Lewis starts to do it, or Novak Djokovic is doing it in another sport, or people in business start to open up, you feel more free and you can release these feelings and talk about it and often solve problems before they actually start. I think that’s a great progression.”
Lewis Hamilton and Lando Norris battle for P6 at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.
‘Schumacher had self-doubt too!’
Vettel also revealed that finding out his idol, seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher, also experienced self-doubt was a pivotal moment in his career.
Schumacher acted as a mentor to fellow German Vettel upon the latter’s arrival in Formula 1 in 2007, with the former having gone into retirement at that point before later making a comeback with Mercedes.
Vettel once more defended Norris as he reflected on his experience with his Schumacher.
He said: “There’s two roads we can take – either we take the old road, and it’s just, ‘ah, that’s weak, that’s wrong, he’s getting soft, it’s too much pressure and he can’t cope with it, he’s not good enough’.
“Or there’s the new road, of actually appreciating the fact and maybe thinking that all the heroes in the past, whether it’s Michael (Schumacher), (Mika) Hakkinen, and then you go back to other generations before that, they had the same issues, they had the same issues, they had the same things running through their head.
Vettel and his hero Michael Schumacher in discussion in 2011
“I spoke with Michael, and I was relieved when he told me that he had self-doubt. My hero, my champion, the guy that was on my walls throughout my childhood had self-doubt.
“It made a lot of pressure go away when I knew that my hero went through the same things. So, I think there’s a lot of inspiration to take from it.”
Vettel was speaking at an event he was hosting in Saudi Arabia, Race4Women [Challenge Me], to encourage female participation in motor racing in the country.
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