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

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

Norris was on the receiving finish of heavy booing after taking a dominant victory in Sunday’s race on 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 carried out his post-race interview within the Foro Sol stadium part, earlier than he was met with an equally harsh reception when he went on the rostrum to gather his winners’ trophy.

Mexican journalist Carlos Jalife from Quick Magazine later revealed that the response stemmed from McLaren’s controversial use of group orders on the Italian Grand Prix, the place Piastri was instructed to swap locations with Norris following a sluggish pit cease for the latter.

The incident was mentioned on Sky Sports activities’ The F1 Present podcast between host Simon Lazenby and friends Martin Brundle and Jacques Villeneuve.

“Lando answered it fairly rightly, I suppose, with two years in the past, he might have received the race in Hungary, however he gave the place again to Oscar Piastri to win that one,” Lazenby stated. 

“We get accused sometimes Martin of being British bias. We all know we’re not. We’re coping with a British viewers that we broadcast to. However, you realize Zak [Brown, McLaren Racing CEO], there may be completely no approach that anybody’s being favoured inside that group.”

To which, Brundle replied: “Nicely, to begin with, it wasn’t three factors, as a result of it’s six, since you’ve received a swap round in that respect.

“However, I believe McLaren will take the brunt of that, as a result of I believe they didn’t handle the message effectively post-Monza. And for me, it was an absolute no brainer to change them again.

“It’s simply odd that it was in Mexico. However I discovered a really, very very long time in the past, you don’t inform followers what to assume, or what to or to not say. They’ll do what they really feel, and so they need to.

“If he’d have had Sergio Perez off within the first nook three consecutive years, or one thing, I might have understood it in Mexico. So, I believe that’s only a misunderstanding of the scenario, and any individual asking a particular query, as a result of it didn’t make a whole lot of sense in any other case.

“I’ve been, after we used to do the interviews on the rostrum that I did for various years, I’ve been up there with Nico [Rosberg] getting booed. I’ve been up there with Sebastian Vettel getting booed. And it’s fairly one thing. It’s fairly highly effective. It’s fairly off-putting.

“However that’s the character of sports activities followers. They’ll do what they need and so they’ll do what they really feel like. However it appears that evidently one was significantly type of stirred up someway.”

1997 world champion Villeneuve added: “That was odd as a result of I don’t keep in mind booing in our days Martin, for some purpose, or we had been simply deaf and didn’t hear them.

“But it surely was an odd one as a result of it didn’t make any sense in Mexico. A British driver in opposition to an Australian in Mexico. Why ought to they care? There was no purpose for it.

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

How did Norris reply to the query?

After the idea was shared with Norris, the Briton responded:  “In the event that they need to assume that, then they definitely have the precise to – they will assume no matter they need.

“I suppose from us as a group, after all, we attempt to do issues pretty. That was the feedback we made again then. Two years in the past in Budapest after I might have received the race and needed to let Oscar again by and let him win a race he deserved to win. It was no totally different to that basically.

“It was an incorrect determination that we made as a group to field him first – and, or me first right here. And, yeah, to be trustworthy, if you wish to have the three factors, they will. However they’ve the precise to assume no matter they need.

“Oscar deserved the win final 12 months in Budapest, I should be forward at Monza. Easy as that.”