{"id":108274,"date":"2025-05-17T06:00:15","date_gmt":"2025-05-17T06:00:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/108274\/"},"modified":"2025-05-17T06:00:15","modified_gmt":"2025-05-17T06:00:15","slug":"lando-norris-ditches-social-media-to-get-title-bid-back-on-track-after-falling-behind-mclaren-team-mate-oscar-piastri-in-race-to-be-world-champion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/108274\/","title":{"rendered":"Lando Norris ditches social media to get title bid back on track after falling behind McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri in race to be world champion"},"content":{"rendered":"<ul class=\"mol-bullets-with-font\">\n<li class=\"class\"><strong>Norris won the first race of the season but is yet to taste victory since then<\/strong><\/li>\n<li class=\"class\"><strong>He has fallen 16 points behind team-mate Piastri in the Drivers&#8217; Championship<\/strong><\/li>\n<li class=\"class\"><strong>The Briton has now come off social media in a bid to get his season back on track<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"author-section byline-plain\">By <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/profile-405\/jonathan-mcevoy.html\" class=\"author\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">JONATHAN MCEVOY<\/a> <a rel=\"nofollow noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/follow?screen_name=JonathanMcEvoy7&amp;tw_p=followbutton\" class=\"twitter-follow-author\"><\/a> <\/p>\n<p class=\"byline-section\"> Published:  15:37 EDT, 16 May 2025   |  Updated:  17:20 EDT, 16 May 2025   <\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\"><a style=\"font-weight: bold;\" target=\"_self\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/sport\/lando-norris\/index.html\" id=\"mol-39a99d00-328d-11f0-b238-33754e95f287\" rel=\"noopener\">Lando Norris<\/a>&#8216;s sport psychology lesson No 134, entitled: Switch off your phone and save your sanity.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">Sitting in the McLaren hospitality area, the Briton&#8217;s eyes are fixed on a screen showing the <a style=\"font-weight: bold;\" target=\"_self\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/sport\/pga_championship\/index.html\" id=\"mol-39b0f000-328d-11f0-b238-33754e95f287\" rel=\"noopener\">PGA Championship<\/a>. His arms are crossed as <a style=\"font-weight: bold;\" target=\"_self\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/sport\/rory_mcilroy\/index.html\" id=\"mol-39acd150-328d-11f0-b238-33754e95f287\" rel=\"noopener\">Rory McIlroy<\/a> misses a 10-footer for par. A sigh.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">Golf, both playing it and watching it, is a sanctuary for Norris away from his high-profile Formula One career that has recently involved him losing his lead in the drivers&#8217; standings to team-mate <a style=\"font-weight: bold;\" target=\"_self\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/sport\/oscar-piastri\/index.html\" id=\"mol-39ab98d0-328d-11f0-b238-33754e95f287\" rel=\"noopener\">Oscar Piastri<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">Having won the opening race in Melbourne, Norris is now 16 points back. Piastri, in contrast, has won four out of the last five and three in succession.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">That reversal takes a toll on your confidence, questions are asked, and comments are aired.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">Norris&#8217;s response? &#8216;I&#8217;ve not been on social media for a few weeks now,&#8217; he says.<\/p>\n<p>  <img decoding=\"async\" id=\"i-7122cd84efec6fd0\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/98464617-14720925-image-m-12_1747424004225.jpg\" height=\"450\" width=\"634\" alt=\"Lando Norris has come off social media to help get his world title bid back on track\" class=\"blkBorder img-share\" style=\"max-width:100%\" loading=\"lazy\" \/>  <\/p>\n<p class=\"imageCaption\">Lando Norris has come off social media to help get his world title bid back on track<\/p>\n<p>   <img decoding=\"async\" id=\"i-80797624b740a10d\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/98464391-14720925-image-a-2_1747423564929.jpg\" height=\"423\" width=\"634\" alt=\"Norris won the first race of the season but has fallen behind team-mate Oscar Piastri (right) in the standings\" class=\"blkBorder img-share\" style=\"max-width:100%\" loading=\"lazy\" \/>   <\/p>\n<p class=\"imageCaption\">Norris won the first race of the season but has fallen behind team-mate Oscar Piastri (right) in the standings<\/p>\n<p>   <img decoding=\"async\" id=\"i-aba1b8ffc9a4d38d\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/98464395-14720925-image-a-3_1747423619313.jpg\" height=\"423\" width=\"634\" alt=\"Australian Piastri has also edged Norris in practice for this weekend's Grand Prix in Imola\" class=\"blkBorder img-share\" style=\"max-width:100%\" loading=\"lazy\" \/>   <\/p>\n<p class=\"imageCaption\">Australian Piastri has also edged Norris in practice for this weekend&#8217;s Grand Prix in Imola<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">&#8216;It&#8217;s just not something I enjoy. I don&#8217;t need to. It&#8217;s my life. I can do what I like.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">&#8216;I enjoy not going on my phone as much as I used to. I mean, I still use my phone and text my friends.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">&#8216;But social media is a waste of my time and energy. I don&#8217;t need that, don&#8217;t want it.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">&#8216;I don&#8217;t find it interesting. I wouldn&#8217;t say I feel better. I just feel like I have got more time to do things that I want to do.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">&#8216;I want to spend time with my friends and go and play golf and train and do things that are productive.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">Actually, his Instagram account was updated last Friday. But, in danger of letting light in on the magic, one of his apparatchiks may have affected that, not the 25-year-old Bristolian who wants to kickstart his revival in Imola this weekend.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">His car is well-equipped to help him in this endeavour. But in first practice, Piastri edged Norris by 0.032sec. In the second, by 0.025sec.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">Sunday&#8217;s Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix is Lewis Hamilton&#8217;s first race for Ferrari in front of the red-shirted fans. The attention is both an inspiration and an intrusion.<\/p>\n<p>   <img decoding=\"async\" id=\"i-3549f8ff96f3cae1\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/98464341-14720925-image-a-4_1747423716808.jpg\" height=\"423\" width=\"634\" alt=\"Norris said he wants 'to spend time with my friends and go and play golf and train and do things that are productive'\" class=\"blkBorder img-share\" style=\"max-width:100%\" loading=\"lazy\" \/>   <\/p>\n<p class=\"imageCaption\">Norris said he wants &#8216;to spend time with my friends and go and play golf and train and do things that are productive&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>   <img decoding=\"async\" id=\"i-ebe07424eacc4c8e\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/98464529-14720925-image-a-5_1747423800431.jpg\" height=\"404\" width=\"634\" alt=\"Sunday's race, meanwhile, is Lewis Hamilton's first for Ferrari in front of their red-shirted fans\" class=\"blkBorder img-share\" style=\"max-width:100%\" loading=\"lazy\" \/>   <\/p>\n<p class=\"imageCaption\">Sunday&#8217;s race, meanwhile, is Lewis Hamilton&#8217;s first for Ferrari in front of their red-shirted fans<\/p>\n<p>     <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/sport\/teamsheet\/index.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><br \/>\n  <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/TS_636_Desktop_Promo_Slim.png\" width=\"636px\" \/><br \/>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">A screen protected Hamilton as he made his way from the team&#8217;s hospitality area to the garage yesterday. His team-mate Charles Leclerc wandered freely, signing autographs on his merry way.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">Like Norris, the seven-time world champion has also taken evasive measures online. He has 39.5million Instagram followers (to Norris&#8217;s 9.9m), yet he has unfollowed everyone and everything since the last race in Miami, where he finished a gut-punching eighth. He has dropped Ferrari, Leclerc and even his poorly bulldog Roscoe.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">Are the sackings a statement on his frame of mind? The relevant history lies in the fact he last wiped his followers after the bone-deep despair of losing the title to Max Verstappen in Abu Dhabi five seasons ago.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">Ferrari will need a generous slice of luck here if they are to deliver their maiden win of 2025, given that Leclerc was only sixth fastest in practice and Hamilton 11th.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">Instagram, it seems, is not their most pressing concern.<\/p>\n<p>                    Share or comment on this article:<br \/>\n                        Lando Norris ditches social media to get title bid back on track after falling behind McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri in race to be world champion<\/p>\n<p>        <script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Norris won the first race of the season but is yet to taste victory since then He has&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":108275,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4103],"tags":[92,4199,707,4200,19584,459,1711,49397,1712,93,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-108274","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-f1","8":"tag-dailymail","9":"tag-f1","10":"tag-formula-1","11":"tag-formula1","12":"tag-formulaone","13":"tag-instagram","14":"tag-lando-norris","15":"tag-match-day","16":"tag-oscar-piastri","17":"tag-sport","18":"tag-sports","19":"tag-uk","20":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114521651704802458","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108274","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=108274"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108274\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/108275"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=108274"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=108274"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=108274"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}