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Norris: The best thing to do is to talk

The McLaren driver has opened up on his mental health troubles and the messages he gets from fans who have gone through similar ordeals.

Lando Norris has revealed he has struggled with his mental health during his racing career. The McLaren driver has been a key supporter of the team's mental health charity partner Mind. Last season, Norris and the McLaren crew raced with the Mind logo on their helmets and they raised over €300,000 by the end of 2020. Norris admits he was very insecure during his karting days and when he made his Formula 1 debut two years ago. "There was a lot of pressure and I worried about it and I didn't have much self confidence," said Norris in an interview with the BBC. "I never had the belief that I could stay in F1 for long or even get there in the first place. "Whenever I didn't do well I beat myself up over it. Mentally I did struggle a lot and its of course not the nicest thing to talk about but the best thing to do is just to talk." Norris has been a huge hit outside of F1 on platforms such as Twitch where he plays video games and streams it to thousands of fans. He is proud that his gaming can provide happiness and relief to people. "I'm lucky I enjoy a lot of these things, mainly because I'm terrible at a lot of the things I try to do," added Norris. "You get messages saying 'how do you get through this' or positive messages saying 'thanks for doing this because you have really helped me' or 'I've been struggling'. It's nice that you get these messages and you can have that impact on people, that's something I think I have got a lot better at in the past few months. The 21-year-old believes the COVID-19 pandemic has changed his perspective on his career and it's made him more aware of how lucky he is. "Nobody really thinks such a thing will happen. But when you're in this period you realise how grateful you are for all the things you are able to do. "I am still a normal person at the end of the day who suffers with different things but also get to drive an F1 car and have a lot of fun."

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