Lando Norris receives BRUTAL advice: "Needs to trim down his life"

Lando Norris was furious with himself after the Belgian Grand Prix, where he lost ground on Championship leader Max Verstappen. Norris crossed the finish line in sixth, which later turned to fifth after George Russell was disqualified. Norris actually started ahead of his teammate Oscar Piastri, who managed to finish on the podium for the second week running. That actually turned into P2. 

Norris dropped back immediately at the start and found himself running in seventh at the end of the first lap. In fact, by lap two, Verstappen was already on his tail after the two started seven places apart. But that hasn't been the only question mark on his performances in the first half of the season. In Hungary, Norris struggled off the line and lost out to his teammate at turn one. Piastri went on to win the race.

Ralf Schumacher was a number of pundits who questioned whether Norris was ready to become World Champion. Others questioned whether he was too nice after he changed his opinion on the Austria crash with Verstappen a week later at Silverstone. Now Peter Windsor wonders whether or not Norris should think about making a lifestyle change.

Can Norris become an F1 World Champion?

Windsor first reflected on the situation with Piastri in Hungary, where he eventually obliged to let his teammate overtake him. "The only way to operate is to think only of Lando Norris. Lando needs to toughen up if he is going to beat Piastri. He needs to be a secret that Oscar doesn't understand. He is too much of an open book. And that's wrong. I think it's wrong for a driver at Lando's level," Windsor said on the Cameron F1 Channel.

"He's become too much of a global social media star. You have created a persona then that you have to live up to. That persona won't beat Piastri and win a World Championship for McLaren. That persona is one the fans love and thing he's funny. They scream and shout, and want to do selfies. That's a meaningless persona that does nothing for you as a racing driver. It's a distraction, and he should get away from that," Windsor added.

"Lando is a sweet guy, and I imagine he'll be embarrassed by that. He doesn't need that. He needs to be a hard, tough racing driver. He needs to get rid of social media, cut it all off and become a blood-thirsty racing driver. He needs to trim down his life. Trim down the way he operates as a professional Formula 1 driver. Become a race driver. Get out of Monaco. Live in a house in an urban area, maybe near the factory. Become a different person, as hard and as tough as nails," Windsor concluded. 

Formula 1 action will return at the end of August with the Dutch Grand Prix. Ten Grand Prix weekends will remain, including three sprint races. Norris has a 78-point deficit to Max Verstappen in the World Championship. In July Norris himself snapped back at claims he was being too nice to be a World Champion. He admitted he could be 'more of an idiot' but claimed he didn't need to be.