Norris took time to 'reset' after Bahrain troubles

JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia -- Lando Norris said he took three days off to "reset" after the disappointment of finishing third at the Bahrain Grand Prix, but remains confident he can perform at a higher level over the coming races.

The McLaren driver still leads the championship from his teammate Oscar Piastri, but never seemed at ease with his car in Bahrain after qualifying sixth and struggling to third place at the finish.

Piastri, meanwhile, secured pole position and a dominant victory in Bahrain, helping him close the gap to Norris in the standings from 23 points after the first race in Australia to just three ahead of this weekend's fifth round in Saudi Arabia.

"I mean I needed a couple of days off, I needed a reset," Norris said. "I probably would have liked a few more days altogether, but I made the most of my three days relaxing, kind of getting away from a little bit.

"But at the same time I think with every athlete's mind and every driver's mind, as much as you try and get away, you're still thinking of a lot of things. So for a lot of my time I was still thinking of the difficulties that I've been struggling with, but at the same time also it's still been a very good start to the year.

"I try to force myself to think of still what a success the start of the season has been. Yes, I know I could have been better, but still leading the championship after not being happy, after not feeling comfortable in the car, it's still a start to the year that I would have dreamed of before the season started.

"So I think I try to remind myself of some of the positives, which there's still been quite a few of, but there's still a lot of me and being myself I've been trying to figure out the issues, the struggles, the reasoning behind it all."

Norris, who emerged as a surprise title contender to Max Verstappen in 2024, said he was still struggling to find the same confidence in this year's car that he had with last season's.

"I know I can be so much better and perform at a much higher level than what I'm doing now," he added. "My level of confidence was very high at the end of last season. Not for any other reason but I just understood the car, I understood how to drive it and I could go out and execute things perfectly.

"Now I cannot just because my feelings are not there, my way of driving is not suited at all. I just hate not being able to know how I'm going to go out and perform in the qualifying lap. Last year if you asked me... maybe that's a lie but... but last year if you asked me are you confident going into qualifying I would have been much more likely to say yes than what I am now, and that's just because of how I feel in the car itself.

"It's not for any reason but I know what I can do and I know what I'm doing and I know what I can do and achieve is a lot higher than what I'm doing now.

"So the fact that I'm still leading the championship, the fact that the start of the year has not been dreadful probably gives me more hope than anything else that if I can get things to click and move in the right direction that I'm hopeful that I can start to become much stronger."