Lando Norris awkwardly drops F-bomb in front of FIA president

Lando Norris awkwardly swore in front of FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem as he collected the F1 drivers’ championship trophy.

Five days after clinching his maiden world title by finishing third in the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Norris was officially crowned world champion and picked up his trophy at the FIA prize-giving gala in Uzbekistan.

During his acceptance speech on Friday evening, Norris had a humours exchange with the re-elected FIA president Ben Sulayem when the 26-year-old Briton used an expletive as he reflected on his title-winning campaign.

“I and we had our share of mistakes and f*** ups, can I say that here? I’m ok?” Norris said on stage in Tashkent.

Ben Sulayem, who was behind an FIA clampdown on drivers swearing outside of the car which has seen fines imposed, jokingly replied: “10,000!"

Norris then continued: "Oh sorry, I got fined! I can pay it off now!”

There was an awkward moment between the pair as Ben Sulayem messed up Norris’s hair, repeating what he did in the drivers’ cool-down room following the season finale at Yas Marina.

"I was going to give you a €5,000 fine, but now I think you need it for your hair after I messed it up,” Ben Sulayem added.

Norris reflects on title ‘dream’

Norris paid tribute to McLaren, his title-rival teammate Oscar Piastri, and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, who he pipped to the world championship by two points.

"It was incredible,” Norris reflected. "Obviously this is a lot of people's dreams, a lot of racing drivers' dreams and I got to finally live it. Live that one dream that I had when I was a little kid.

“Congratulations and thank you to McLaren, the team I've been with for many, many years on giving both of us an incredible car that at times made our life very easy and beautiful and we could bring home many wins all the way to the end of the season.

"Mr Piastri, the incredible team-mate that I've had, who has helped me improve so much over the past few seasons and made us the team that we are, allowed us to turn into the team winning two constructors' back-to-back.

"Of course, to Max as well, for challenging us the whole way, putting us under pressure, just doing what Max always does.”

Norris continued: "It's been amazing to grow up here alongside a lot of you guys, deliver it with McLaren to get to race all the world champions that I've been racing against - Lewis [Hamilton], Max [Verstappen], Seb [Vettel], Fernando [Alonso].

"All the incredible drivers that I looked up to and watched when I was a little kid and get that chance to race against them, to try and beat them and show what I can do against them all and we managed to do that this year.

"So very proud, very happy of course. Got very emotional on Sunday after the race, then got extremely drunk and had an amazing time!"