The Race Winner gets BOOED: Lando Norris faced with boos upon his stunning Victory at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez circuit
Updated: May 2
Lando Norris’ stunning victory in Mexico sparks anger among the home fans, the grandstands rung out boos at the British Driver during his first on-track interview after the race, puzzling both the interviewer and the driver himself.
While he was being interviewed just shy of trackside, the overwhelming noise of boos erupted from the stands behind him, not allowing him to hear the interviewer just a few feet in front of him. He continued his race interview professionally, discussing his focus on the race, and him “focusing on myself, keeping my head down, I ignore all of it.”
The interview seemed to be cut short, viewers took notice of how uncomfortable both the driver and interviewer were, trying to continue while the noise around deafened them.
Kym Illman, an Australian F1 Photographer, took to his TikTok page and explained what he had witnessed at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez circuit:
“Lando was booed all weekend, not just today during the race. I noticed it on Saturday as he came into the stadium, they would give him huge boos, and he was the only driver to be booed.”
While he does acknowledge that Verstappen was booed last year when he took victory on the circuit, he did name many drivers, including Verstappen that did not get booed. Simply, the target intended was solely Lando Norris.
It was only later we got a bit of insight as to why he was booed by the Mexican crowd. In the media post-race interviews, Lando was again asked about the boos, to which he replied that he still had no idea why, but “they have a right to do it if they wanna do it. So I think that’s sport sometimes.”
He took humour from it, further saying “I don’t know why I can’t stop laughing when I get booed, so I think it makes it more entertaining for me.”
Mexican journalist Carlos Jalife from Fast Mag revealed the reasoning behind the boos this weekend after confusion from the drivers and also even the F1 Sky Sports experts about the incident:
“It seems that the Mexican people think, we did a poll, that you’re being given the championship. That’s why the booing is coming. And we asked what should Lando do, and they said return the three points. That was the question that got the most percentage of the answers. Would you be willing to return the three points?”
All three of the podium sitters sat completely confused during this explanation, the three points the journalist was referring to was the controversial driver swap at the Italian Grand Prix after a slow pitstop left Norris behind Piastri as he ran in front of him the majority of the race.
The comment about returning the points caught everyone off guard, suggesting that McLaren hold blatant favouritism for Lando Norris over Oscar Piastri, despite Piastri dominating the first half of the season, where no-one suggested any sort of favour over either driver then. It appears that only after Lando Norris seen to be doing better than the Australian people are under the impression that McLaren hold higher regard for the British driver.
Despite a surprising question sprung onto him, Norris kept his composure:
“Sure if they want to think that, they certainly have the right to. They can think whatever they want. I guess from us as a team of course we try and do things fairly. That was the comment we made back then.
“The same two years ago in Budapest, when I could have won the race and had to let Oscar back through and let him win the race. He deserved to win. It was no different to that. Really.To be honest, if you want to have the three points they can, but you know, they have the right to think whatever they want. Oscar deserved the win last year in Budapest. I deserve to be ahead in Monza, simple as that.”
Lando Norris has not been a fan favourite on the grid for the last few years, this show of dislike highlighting this. He has shown on multiple occasions his arrogance and childish behaviour towards members of the grid, a lot more comments and actions affecting the 25-year old driver more than it should. For example, in 2024, after having no Grand Prixs to his name after joining McLaren in 2019, he flipped off a fan for asking if he was going to get his first win this year.
The young driver has taken multiple digs at other drivers, especially at Lewis Hamilton. His most noticeable comment was made back in 2020, where, according to the BBC he said that Lewis Hamilton “has to beat one of two other drivers” with a “car which should win every race,” a comment that has come back to bite him on multiple occasions even five years on.
His haters had something more to gnaw on over the last two years, having a Championship-worthy car and being outraced by his less-experienced dominant teammate Oscar Piastri. Last year he was completely overshone by his successful teammate, and he continued to be out-competed by Oscar Piastri in the first half of this year, having the most dominant car on the grid and Piastri highlighting the car being way out of the leagues of competitors. His ego, paired with this overshadowing, is part of the reason many fans have a strong distaste towards Lando Norris.
The media do not help the dislike for the British driver. On multiple occasions the media, especially the Sky Sports F1 team have come to Norris’ defences subtly and sometimes more obviously. When Verstappen and him were fighting for the Championship last year, a lot of critique was flying towards the way of Max Verstappen, Lando Norris appearing to get away from incidents scot-free (The Austria crash in 2024 being the biggest example). From that same year Max Verstappen stormed the Sau Paulo Grand Prix, going from P17 to P1 in a stunning victory, Lando Norris again making controversial statements again, taken from Planet F1:
“You take a gamble and it’s paid off for them [in reference to a red flag and safety car during the race]. It’s not talent or, you know, it’s just luck.”
While these statements have been retracted by Lando Norris on multiple occasions, fans never forget what he said, holding onto the negative implications and scrutinising the McLaren driver to this day.
He is not the only one to make controversial and outlandish statements about other drivers, however, he is the one who gets called out and criticised for it often. Why does he specifically take on the brunt of the hatred? While Lando Norris has built up a portfolio of bad takes and comments not backed up by his performances, he is not given way by many fans after his apologies. He does still have many supporters of his own, but on most occasions his haters outshine the love and support he gets from his loyal fanbase.
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