Expect a more serious Lando Norris in 2020 after the Briton admits he had "too much fun" in his rookie season.
While proving his potential with McLaren, it was Norris' personality which often got more attention as he became known for memes and a wicked sense of humour which earned him a strong following.
But at times the 20-year-old accepts that exuberance perhaps came at the expense of his driving and as he continues to learn the ropes in Formula 1, he should ensure the racing comes first.
“In some ways, I think I’ve been almost been too relaxed and had too much fun,” Norris told Autosport.
“When it’s become more serious, I haven’t focused as much as I should do and so on, and worked on as many areas as I should do, I think I started to take a little bit for granted.
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“It’s been good and I’ve been able to have fun in my first season, I’ve not just come in and been surrounded by too many serious things and people," he acknowledged.
“At the same time, I think that’s also helped in my ability to work on several things and improve as a driver but maybe sometimes I’ve pushed it a bit too much in terms of making it too jokey, and not focusing as much as I should.
“There’s a compromise, I still just want to have fun sometimes, wear my own jumper and things like that.”
That fun-loving attitude did see Norris form strong relationships with teammate Carlos Sainz and F1's biggest court jester Daniel Ricciardo.
But in the case of the Renault driver, Lando believes Ricciardo can get away with being a joker having gone through the development stage he is currently in.
“He’s in his whatever [ninth] year of F1 and in his very early years of F1 I don’t think he was as jokey and fun with everything compared to what he is now," Norris explained.
“Not because he wasn’t [fun], but because he took it seriously and had to prove what he could do and then he was able to be more himself.
“I have to make sure I don’t let people use what I do and who I am as an excuse – ‘it’s his first year and he doesn’t take it too seriously’.
“Over time maybe I’ll become more relaxed like him but I think I still have to look more serious from the outside sometimes than I’d want to be just so people don’t use things that aren’t true as excuses.”
