Locked in a title battle with Max Verstappen and Oscar Piastri, Norris’ mental approach has been the subject of criticism.

The Brit has often been intensely self-critical and seemed to dwell on his disappointments.

After crashing out of qualifying for the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix to start 10th, he reinforced his own radio commentary in which he termed himself a “f*****g idiot” when speaking with the media.

He was similarly downbeat following qualifying in Bahrain leading to suggestions that he’s not mentally equipped to fight for the world title.

“It’s a balance I think I’m still clearly still trying to improve on,” he admitted of the trouble he has in dealing with positive and negative thoughts.

“I do think of the bas stuff, the negative things, more than I think of the positives.

“That attitude is probably something I need to improve and work on.”

However, Norris also rationalises his mentality by saying that he sets himself high expectations, and not meeting them should not be seen as a positive.

“I want to do well and I want to get the most out of every session,” he said.

“I want to achieve my potential and, at the minute, I’m just not achieving my potential.

“There’s no reason for me to be happy with that.

“I know I’m hard and I know I’m tough on myself, but for 95 percent of it, I think it’s a good thing.

“It’s what makes me who I am and makes me have a chance in Formula 1 and be with McLaren and be fighting for a world championship.

“But there is, and I accept that there’s probably the last few percent which can be a very important few percent where I probably say too many negatives.

“That gets into my own head and I don’t think for the positives as much as I should.”

After five rounds, Norris sits just 10 points back from teammate Oscar Piastri at the top of the drivers’ standings.

He led the competition until Sunday’s Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, the race marking the first time this season he’s finished off the podium.

He had started the year with victory in Melbourne to shoot into the lead of the title fight from the off.

“If I did tell myself, at the beginning of the year, I could be leading the championship after four races, I would probably be very happy,” he said.

“On these journeys, there are a lot of things that I would be so happy about; starting the season off with how the first race in Australia went; achieving the podiums; turning a bad weekend around and still having a podium.

“There are so many things that I should be happy about, I probably just don’t remind myself enough of them.

“That’s probably something, the main area I would say, that I need to improve on.”