LANDO NORRIS has somehow become the pantomime villain in F1 while he charges to the title.
The McLaren 25-year-old has now been booed at two Grands Prix this season after standing on the podium.
The first came in September in Monza where Ferrari’s boisterous Tifosi booed him as he came second.
Norris’ post-race interview was then interrupted after he won Sunday’s race in Mexico City, with more grumbling from fans.
The main reason for this appears to be the wild conspiracy theories about McLaren sabotaging Oscar Piastri in favour of Norris.
It is thought that the jeers in Monza were due to the team order chaos late on when Piastri was asked by McLaren to swap back places due to Norris’ slow 5.9 second pit stop.
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It left Norris undercut by teammate Piastri and seemed another bitter blow to the Brit’s title hopes a week after he retired in Zandvoort with an oil leak.
But the Aussie was then told to give the place BACK to Norris, which he did so reluctantly.
It is worth remembering that McLaren also stepped in last season, with Norris asked to let Piastri through to win the Hungarian Grand Prix following the pit stops.
When Norris was asked about the boos, he said: “I don’t know why, to be honest,
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“And people can do what they want, they have the right to do it if they want to do it. So I think that’s sport sometimes.
“I don’t know why, I can’t stop laughing when I get booed. I think it makes it more entertaining for me. So yeah, they can keep doing it if they want.
“Of course, you don’t want it. I prefer if people cheered for me. But I don’t know – who knows. Like I said, I just concentrate on doing my thing.
“It was the same in Monza and a few other places. So yeah, I don’t know why, I just can’t stop laughing.”
After the race in Mexico, Norris was asked if he would give back the extra three world championship points he earned as a result of the position swap in Monza to help stop the booing.
He said: “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 comments we made back then.
“The same as two years ago in Budapest, when I could have won the race and not let Oscar back through and let him win the race he deserved to win. It was no difference to that, really.
“And, to be honest, if you want to have the three points, they can. They have the right to think whatever they want.
“But yeah, like Oscar deserved to win in Budapest, I deserved to be ahead in Monza. Simple as that.”
Norris had an outside chance of fighting Max Verstappen for the title last season and fans were more than happy to cheer him on as the young buck taking on the four-time world champ.
The championship is now in his hands this year with him leading the table by one point over Piastri and now some supporters have turned against him.
He has had to come off social media at points this season and his girlfriend Margarida Corceiro has also been the target of online trolling.
This hasn’t always been the case, with fans falling in love with Norris when he bravely opened up about his battle with mental health during the early stages of his career.
Norris has always championed those dealing with mental health struggles, and has worked with McLaren’s mental health charity Mind.
When he was first thrust on the scene, the Bristol-born driver was known for his cheeky chappie persona, which cemented him as a fan favourite.
It is no secret that he has also become the heartthrob of the grid and recently featured in Vogue.
He has certainly adopted a more steely exterior in recent years with him transforming from the plucky rookie to fighting for world titles.
But he still has the Brits on his side, with them packing out his new ‘Landostand’ dedicated to him at the British Grand Prix, which sold out in just two hours in July.
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England captain Harry Kane is a big fan too, with the striker heaping his praise on Norris at the Spanish Grand Prix in June.
If he wins the title, he will become the first British world champion in five years, but it looks as though he will have to block out more noise than any of the other contenders en route to the throne.
F1 2025 driver championship standings
Here’s how the F1 drivers championship standings look going into Brazil:
Lando Norris
- Points: 357
- Wins: 6
- Podiums: 16
- Last win: Mexico Grand Prix
Oscar Piastri
- Points: 356
- Wins: 7
- Podiums: 14
- Last win: Dutch Grand Prix
Max Verstappen
- Points: 321
- Wins: 5
- Podiums: 11
- Last win: United States Grand Prix
