‘Odd’ Lando Norris booing theory at Mexico City GP taken apart

The booing of Lando Norris following his victory at the Mexico City Grand Prix has been labelled as “odd”.

Norris was on the receiving end of heavy booing after taking a dominant victory in Sunday’s race at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez as he reclaimed the lead of the F1 world championship from McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri.

Boos and jeers from the crowed drowned out Norris as he conducted his post-race interview in the Foro Sol stadium section, before he was met with an equally harsh reception when he went on the podium to collect his winners’ trophy.

Mexican journalist Carlos Jalife from Fast Mag later revealed that the response stemmed from McLaren’s controversial use of team orders at the Italian Grand Prix, where Piastri was instructed to swap places with Norris following a slow pit stop for the latter.

The incident was discussed on Sky Sports’ The F1 Show podcast between host Simon Lazenby and guests Martin Brundle and Jacques Villeneuve.

“Lando answered it quite rightly, I suppose, with two years ago, he could have won the race in Hungary, but he gave the place back to Oscar Piastri to win that one," Lazenby said. 

“We get accused occasionally Martin of being British bias. We know we’re not. We are dealing with a British audience that we broadcast to. But, you know Zak [Brown, McLaren Racing CEO], there is absolutely no way that anyone’s being favoured within that team.”

To which, Brundle replied: “Well, first of all, it wasn’t three points, because it’s six, because you’ve got a swap around in that respect.

“But, I think McLaren will take the brunt of that, because I think they didn’t manage the message well post-Monza. And for me, it was an absolute no brainer to switch them back.

“It’s just odd that it was in Mexico. But I learned a very, very long time ago, you do not tell fans what to think, or what to or not to say. They will do what they feel, and so they should.

“If he’d have had Sergio Perez off in the first corner three consecutive years, or something, I could have understood it in Mexico. So, I think that’s just a misunderstanding of the situation, and somebody asking a specific question, because it didn’t make a lot of sense otherwise.

“I’ve been, when we used to do the interviews on the podium that I did for quite a lot of years, I’ve been up there with Nico [Rosberg] getting booed. I’ve been up there with Sebastian Vettel getting booed. And it’s quite something. It’s quite powerful. It’s quite off-putting.

“But that’s the nature of sports fans. They’ll do what they want and they’ll do what they feel like. But it seems that one was particularly kind of stirred up somehow.”

1997 world champion Villeneuve added: “That was odd because I don’t remember booing in our days Martin, for some reason, or we were just deaf and didn’t hear them.

“But it was an odd one because it didn’t make any sense in Mexico. A British driver against an Australian in Mexico. Why should they care? There was no reason for it.

“And the Monza thing, I’m with Martin on this one. It’s not just a swap, there’s much more to that story. It did make sense, so what’s the big deal?”

How did Norris respond to the question?

After the theory was shared with Norris, the Briton responded:  “If they want to think that, then 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 comments we made back then. Two years ago in Budapest when I could have won the race and had to let Oscar back through and let him win a race he deserved to win. It was no different to that really.

“It was an incorrect decision that we made as a team to box him first - and, or me first here. And, yeah, to be honest, if you want to have the three points, they can. But they have the right to think whatever they want.

“Oscar deserved the win last year in Budapest, I deserve to be ahead at Monza. Simple as that.”