- McLaren driver Lando Norris has spoken and apologised over an incident last weekend
- Norris’ customary bottle celebration backfired on the podium
- He says that he understands the significance of the trophy to the Hungarian people
McLaren driver Lando Norris has spoken and apologised over an incident last weekend where he broke Max Verstappen’s trophy at the Hungarian Grand Prix.
Verstappen won the Hungarian Grand Prix, after winning the British Grand Prix a week before where Norris trailed him in second position.
However, Norris’ customary bottle celebration backfired on the podium as Verstappen’s trophy to slid off the top step and shattered on the ground.
Both drivers found the situation amusing, but not everyone did. Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko, for instance, declared that he would teach Verstappen about the cultural significance of porcelain—the material used to make the trophy—in Hungarian society.
Hungarian Grand Prix trophy. Photo/Daily Express
Norris made it apparent that he is aware of the cultural significance attached to the trophy and acknowledges that. Despite stressing that it was an accident, he said that he probably shouldn’t have made light of the situation.
He said that his intention was not breaking the trophy.
“I know how much it means to the Hungarians and is part of their culture and so forth. So yeah, of course I want to enjoy the time but it was never my intention to do such thing and I did apologise to Max, I know I’ve made a couple of jokes about it, which maybe I shouldn’t, but I do feel bad for…if he did it to my trophy I’d be annoyed.
“I do apologise for it and obviously the people who put the time and effort into making it, I really didn’t mean for it to happen, so I’ll make sure I’m a lot more careful next time on celebrating,” Planet F1 reports.
Norris does not intend to alter his celebration style when he is on the podium in Formula 1, merely adding more prudence to it.
However, any stunt that could break another trophy is not welcome.
“I’ll just take a little bit more care obviously what I do, but yeah, I’ll just move the trophies aside and then continue,” he added.
Lando Norris at the Hungarian Grand Prix. Photo/Planet F1
Norris enters the Belgian Grand Prix in eighth place overall in the Drivers’ standings, 20 points adrift of Charles Leclerc of Ferrari.
The 23-year-old driver is establishing his dominance in the F1 circuit. He is closely trailing Verstappen in the last two races of the season which is impressive.
He started the race in third place behind Verstappen and Piastri in Hungary, but he still manoeuvred through the various changes in position to finish second and earn back-to-back podium finishes for the first time in his career.
He placed seventh in the driver’s championship last year, and while he is now in eighth place this year, two consecutive second-place finishes indicate that he has overcome his shaky early 2023 form.
Norris had failed to finish higher than sixth in any of his first eight races and ended outside the points in five of them.
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